The Absence of You
by NaraLikesWords
Summary: After Ash disappeared, the cold words Gary said that he believes caused him to leave haunt him. It's been a year, and if Gary thought Ash's disappearance couldn't get any worse, his friends are starting to drop like flies. Someone, or some-pokemon, is murdering them. Only one girl can explain the deaths, but she must get to Gary before the murderer gets to him first.
1. Absence

The Viridian City gym was silent and uneventful, like any other day. Hardly any trainers passed by to challenge the gym leader, and when a trainer strong enough would push the gym doors open with a determined look, the look would eventually be shattered while admitting defeat, trudging out of the gym in hopes to return later with a stronger strategy.

At the very end of the gym sat the gym leader, petting his Umbreon slowly, waiting for the last ten minutes to tick by so he could finally go home and do something that would most likely be more eventful than that day at the gym. Although, he did like the silence of the gym at times. He could finish things that would be procrastinated about at home there at the gym because of the lack of events, and because his was the last gym a trainer had to challenge before heading off to the Pokemon League, every trainer that entered gave him at least a bit of a challenge. He liked it that way. The silence and the usual challenge. Everything was oddly perfect.

Well, except for his best friend wiping off the face of the planet.

Gary's face hardened at the thought. Yes, it was true that everyone missed Ash dearly, but if anyone missed him the most, it had to be Gary Oak. Not only did they share the same hometown, but both boys started their journeys the exact same day, crossed paths many times, and ended up being rivals along the weren't only rivals; they were childhood friends and brothers. Every scornful remark and rude comment spat at each other had a dosage of friendship in it, no matter how angrily the other replied.

Now, Ash Ketchum was gone.

His lack of presence stung Gary's heart greatly, but what hurt Gary the most was the words he himself said before Ash disappeared. They rung in his head almost daily, some days more than once, some days ignored, or some days like that day, where the silence and the words were a deadly combination.

The words snapped in his mind loudly.

"_It'd be better if you were dead!"_

He said those words with rage in his voice during a petty fight. It was such an excuse for an argument that he didn't remember why and how they'd gotten into the fight. It didn't matter now, the fight itself. What mattered is that Ash was gone, and he'd do anything to take back his words and see his best friend.

After he said those words, a cold silence settled over them, followed by Ash storming out of the room, Pikachu giving Gary an icy glare before running after his friend. Gary was too angry to do the same.

Now he was gone.

If only Gary had done the same. If only he'd run after Ash, taken his words back, and apologized. Sure, Ash would be mad at him for a few days, but... He wouldn't have disappeared for a year, either.

Umbreon's relaxed face faltered when his master's petting began to slow down uncomfortably. When the petting finally stopped, Umbreon shot his red eyes open and peered up at his trainer. Gary's amber eyes were watery as he stared off at something that wasn't there, obviously deep in thought.

Umbreon stood, rested his two front paws against Gary's chest and rubbed his head against his neck. He knew exactly what he was thinking about, and things didn't end up good when his thoughts roamed far enough. He couldn't speak, and could only comfort his master with his actions, but at least they seemed to speak louder.

"Let's close up," Gary muttered with a tight throat and a shaky voice. He stood, hugging Umbreon close to his chest as he walked towards the entrance of his gym. Before he could walk out, a trainer burst in.

"I-I'm here to challenge Gary Oak!"

"Sorry kid, I…" Gary looked at the trainer. He was hugging a pokeball close to him, a distressed look on his sweaty face, knowing he was a bit too late. But the trainer had a sea of dedication in his eyes Gary just couldn't say 'no' to; that dedication Ash always had.

"…Alright." The trainer smiled, enlarging the red sphere with a click of a button.

That day was another of the few days a trainer beat Gary Oak. Those days seemed to be getting closer and closer to each other as Ash's absence dragged on…

-…-

That night, Gary couldn't sleep. Umbreon sensed his unease and refused to sleep in his pokeball, instead curling up into a ball and resting on Gary's chest. His presence didn't seem to ease Gary, though. The whole night, he stayed the same, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, and breathing in rhythm. Umbreon fell asleep to the rising and falling of his chest long before Gary even began to grow tired. He stared at the blue blankness above unblinkingly, unable to go to sleep. His mind was restless, and not because he was counting sheep. Sheep was the last thing on his mind.

"_I killed him."_

At that silent and deadly thought, images of Ash began to flash through his mind. His smiling face, his stupid pose whenever he wanted to catch a pokemon, the look on his face whenever he saw Gary win yet another battle. That lead to the argument replaying. He could vividly see every single detail of the fight. The anger and frustration in their faces, the hurt flashing through Ash's face, and just how loudly the doors slammed close once Ash left.

His mind then roamed to thoughts of what Ash did after the argument, the main topic being suicide. How would Ash have done it? Did he run off to somewhere far away where they'd never find his body, bring a gun to his head, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger? Did he gulp down a handful of pills, lie down, and let the numbness take over? Where was he? What happened to his Pokemon?

What if he had gone after him?

The multitude of questions swarming his head gave him an immense headache. His head throbbed as the world began to pull away from him. He desperately tried to find the answers to questions only one person could answer, and that person was gone.

Two things woke Umbreon. One, Gary's chest began to rise and fall in quick, broken motions. Two, there was a knock at the front door.

Gary was almost glad that someone was knocking at three in the morning. He forced all of the overwhelming thoughts out of his head, for at least the moment, and got up, Umbreon jumping off his chest and staying by him. Gary walked up to his room's door, pressing his ear against it.

Sure enough, another few knocks softly rapped at the door. He wasn't sure who would be at his door this late, or some would say early, but he decided that a person that would've wanted to kill him wouldn't have knocked, so he walked forward with a bit of calmness. With an alert and tensed Umbreon at his side, he began to open the front door just as another few knocks rang out.

He was surprised to see his grandfather standing before him, hands running up and down his arms to give him warmth. Under his thin white lab coat, Gary could see striped pajamas. It looked like he'd just woken up.

"Grandpa," Gary began, reaching for a coat hung on the coat hanger next to him. "What are you doing here?"

Prof. Oak gladly took the coat Gary offered, but didn't put it on immediately. He held it in his hands, glad to have something to occupy him. But even with his hands busy, he couldn't find a proper way to deliver such news. Even worse, he knew the look on his face was worrying Gary.

"Gary," Prof. Oak faltered, his voice wavering and expression hardening. Gary did the same, furrowing his brow.

"What?" Gary mumbled, heart racing and stomach churning. How his grandfather was acting could only mean something bad had occurred, but what?

Had he found Ash, lifeless and bloody?

Prof. Oak took in a deep breath. He didn't know how to start off his sentence. The news he had to deliver was too harsh for anyone to have say or hear. Already, his throat was tightened, the cold air was too much for his sweaty skin, and he was stiff in front of his grandson. He had to be strong. He was the adult, and an authority figure over Gary. He couldn't show how weak he felt; the fear pounding lightly at his chest.

"Your friend, Misty…" Prof. Oak's lips were too dry, throat was too tight, and he simply couldn't continue. But he clenched his fists under the coat and took in a deep, shaky breath.

"She was murdered."


	2. Murder

The words hit him brutally, instantly punching the wind out of him. The throbbing in his head returned, his whole body felt cold and numb, the corners of his vision began to blur, and all the noises around him began to have an echo. The tiny sound of wind blowing sounded like a storm brewing. Was he dreaming? He bit the inside of his mouth. No, that was silly. He'd been up all night worrying over painful questions. Then, had he heard correctly?

"Wh-what?" Gary managed to croak out, wrapping an arm around his uneasy stomach. If he was even thinking about catching at least two hours of sleep later, it would be impossible then.

"I'm sorry, I… I was about to wrap up what I was doing in the lab when I got a call from Brock. He told me about Misty. He's at the Cerulean City Hospital, and asked to bring you with me."

"Of course," Gary murmured, reaching for his keys and coat. The small process of simply reaching forward for a couple of items made his body shake. He couldn't believe what he was told. His friend, and a very close friend to Ash, had been murdered. Misty might have even been the girl Ash loved. How would Ash react? Would he ever know?

_"If Ash was here, would things be different?"_

"Gary…" Gary blinked his eyes at the sound of his name. He realized he'd been holding his coat for a while, but hadn't moved from his spot.

"I-I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Let's go," Prof. Oak said softly, worry in his raspy voice as he allowed Gary to exit his house. Gary shivered as he pulled on his coat, his mind conjuring new unanswerable questions.

-…-

Misty simply didn't look the same anymore. Her creamy skin was pale and ghostly, covered in gashes, blood and purple and black bruises. Her beautiful, orange hair she was trying to grow out was dark and burned at the tips, reducing its length greatly. Many of her bones were broken from the attack. The sight of her like that…

That was Misty? How could it be? How could it be the same Misty that travelled with them; the Misty who pulled him away from a girl who he had no chance with via earlobe; that stubborn girl that, behind all the tough words, threats, and battles, was still a beautiful girl with a caring heart?

Brock broke down into tears the second he saw her. He couldn't concentrate on what the doctor was telling him; all of the words he was saying sounded foreign and muffled out. He hadn't even noticed that Gary was there until he heard his named being called out.

"Brock!" Gary called out, quickening his pace. The doctor who was talking to Brock looked up as Brock rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.

"What happened?" Gary asked sternly, looking over at the room he assumed Misty was in. A nurse walked out of the room, turning off the light. She looked up at Gary, frowned, and looked down at the floor before walking away.

"…many broken bones and severe wounds. The brutality of these wounds suggests that no human could have done this."

Gary's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

The doctor glanced at him, at Prof. Oak, then back at him.

"We think a pokemon might have done this."

"A pokemon?" Prof. Oak repeated, shaking his head softly. "There's no way…"

"A pokemon couldn't have done this on its own!" Gary exclaimed. "Maybe it was being bossed around by someone…"

"All I'm suggesting is that a pokemon was involved in this murder. The police said that no one saw anyone enter or leave Misty's residence, but the inside is destroyed-"

"Doctor, the family is here," a nurse softly interrupted. The doctor sighed, closing his eyes. It was obvious the day had been stressful for him.

He dismissed himself, following the nurse down the hallway. A silence blanketed over them, only broken by Brock's choked sobs. His shoulders shook uncontrollably, and he couldn't seem to stop crying. Gary frowned, staring down the hallway, unable to take in the sight of Brock, so vulnerable and broken.

"How could this have happened…?" Prof. Oak said softly. Down the hallway were two doors. Through one window, Gary could see a frowning, stressful doctor. Through the other, he saw one of Misty's sisters, covering her mouth with one hand, tears swelling up in her eyes.

"T-The funeral," Brock choked out, sniffling and wiping away his tears. "W-will you two-"

"Of course we'll go, Brock," Gary muttered, squeezing Brock's trembling shoulder. He sat down next to him just as a nurse came up to them, holding a small white ball with colorful triangles in her arms.

"Excuse me, Brock?" Brock looked up at the nurse, who held out the small egg. It was Togepi, sleeping away his sadness. "The girls said it would be best if you kept him," the nurse said softly. Brock looked at Togepi for a few long seconds before slowly taking the pokemon in his hands and hugging him close.

"Thank you," Brock mumbled, leaning back and closing his eyes.

-…-

The day of the funeral, ironically, was a dark and cloudy day. It was held outside of the Cerulean City gym, which Misty had taken over when her sisters decided they'd rather perform than battle. Many people showed up. Some were in tears, like Brock, who stood close by Misty's sisters. Others stood silently, like Gary.

They had dressed Misty in her favorite dress; a white dress that clung onto her hips and then spread out into white and pink waves matching a goldeen's tail. It made her look like an angel in a pearl casket, despite the bruises covering her pale skin.

_"How could a pokemon have caused this?" _

He shoved his hands in his pockets, narrowing his eyes as the wind rustled his hair. What could have compelled it to do this? He was positive a pokemon couldn't have done it on its own, leading him to think that someone was behind this, but… who?

Gary felt misplaced, but only because Ash wasn't there. At first, he felt angry at Ash for being selfish and leaving his friends to deal with Misty's death on their own. Did he even care that one of his best friends was dead?

No, of course he did. How could Gary think otherwise? He should be mad at himself, for not being there enough for Brock, for not being able to look inside the casket for more than five seconds because he couldn't stand seeing a lifeless Misty, and for driving Ash away.

Well, now he was.

He clenched his fists and turned to leave before his anger could get the best of him.

-…-

It was no less than two weeks when Brock was murdered as well.

"I just… can't believe this!" Gary exclaimed, standing up and slamming his hands against his grandfather's desk. "The doctor said that the pokemon who killed Misty must have killed Brock, but how can a pokemon do this?"

"Gary, I know it's frustrating. I don't believe that a pokemon could have done this. I believe every pokemon is born pure. There's no such thing as a bad pokemon, but only a bad trainer."

"Then who could be doing this?" Gary shouted, running a hand through his amber hair.

"Gary, I think it'd be best if you caught some sleep," Prof. Oak said calmly. Gary opened his mouth to object, but the worried look on his grandfather's face caused him to shut his mouth tightly and inhale deeply.

"You're right," he mumbled, sighing as he grabbed his backpack from the floor. "I should do that… Bye, Gramps."

"Gary," Prof. Oak called out just as Gary opened the door. When a pair of dull, brown eyes that showed lack of sleep peered back at him, he said, "It wasn't your fault."

A pang hit Gary's chest. How did he know that was what was keeping him up all night for the past month? He didn't know what to say to him, so he simply turned back and walked out of the lab without saying another word.

The fly home was silent, which gave Gary's mind enough time to torture him. First, images of the three close travelers flashed into his mind, the smiling faces of Ash, Misty, and Brock appearing, arms linked and eyes almost closed. He'd heard plenty of stories from Ash about their travels around Kanto, making him wish he hadn't been so stuck up and arrogant. Maybe he could have been a part of their memories.

The two people killed were both closely related to Ash. His grandfather called it a coincidence, but Gary's gut told him it wasn't. Whoever the murderer was, would he go after more of Ash's friends? Would Gary be next?

Had he already gotten ahold of Ash?

He closed his eyes shut tightly just as his Pidgeotto landed before his house. But he didn't want to open them. He felt as if he could fall asleep right there, with the comfort of his pokemon's feathers.

"Pidgeotto," Gary mumbled, lying down and hugging the pokemon's neck. "Fly to the backyard." Pidgeotto nodded his response, slowly flying over the house and landing on the grass of Gary's backyard, then perched on the ground and closed his own eyes, glad that his trainer was finally getting some sleep.

* * *

_Nara: I'm sorry it took so long! Somehow, I wasn't very write-y, and I kept feeling like it lacked something... Or maybe I just wasn't interested with this chapter... But the next chapter, I know, will be better :3 Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited :D Tell me what you think, I love reading your opinions :3_

_I'll try to updated Saturdays, but um... I'm bad with deadlines n.n; _


	3. Dawn

_She opened the bathroom door, allowing the warm steam to invade her room as a small gust of cool air hit her. She sighed, a relaxed smile spreading on her lips as she reached for a pink brush for her moist blue hair. It was fairly chilly outside, but the warmth in her house allowed her to wear a pink tank top and matching shorts for the night. She danced around her room, only stopping at her desk to turn her computer on. She hummed a small tune as she waited for her computer to boot up, combing her hair back into a ponytail. _

_For some reason, she had a feeling that night would be quite calm. _

_Once her computer showed her home screen, she clicked on the webcam icon, smiled when she noticed Barry was online as he'd promised, and clicked over his name. A few small beeps went off, and then Barry showed up on the screen._

_"Hey DeeDee!" Her smile quickly changed into a frown. _

_"Don't call me that!" she hissed, pulling her desk chair out and taking a seat. Barry smiled sheepishly at his girlfriend._

_"You know you love me," he teased, pouting his lips. Dawn laughed._

_"Fine," she replied, resting her chin on her hand. "So what's up?"_

_"Nothing, I'm just so bored!"_

_"It's almost midnight. Aren't you tired?" Dawn asked. At that second, Barry decided to reveal the energy drink sitting next to his mouse pad and took in a large gulp._

_"Nope!" he exclaimed, smiling at Dawn's disapproving face._

_"Those things make you explode."_

_"That's stupid! Who told you that?" Barry asked, taking in another sip. _

_"No one," Dawn grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Are you ready for this weekend?"_

_"I can't wait!" Barry cheered, throwing a fist in the air. "A weekend with my baby, cheering her on at the Sinnoh Grand Festival? What more could I ask for?" Dawn blushed._

_"Thanks. I don't know if I'll win, though…"_

_"You won two years ago! Of course you'll win."_

_"Yeah, but… what if I'm still rusty?" _

_"You're funny, DeeDee."_

_"Don't call me Dee-" Dawn cut herself off, eyes going wide with alert. She thought she had heard something downstairs. _

_"What's wrong?" Barry asked. He found himself whispering, leaning in towards his screen. _

_"Nothing. I thought I heard something," Dawn mumbled. A sick feeling began to grow at her stomach. She stood up. "I'm sure it's nothing, but I won't be able to feel comfortable until I go check it out. Be right back."_

_"No, Dawn, wait!"_

_She looked at her computer's clock. Ten minutes past twelve. "You can come over if I don't come back in ten minutes, if you want. I might make myself something to eat."_

_"Dawn-"_

_"No need to worry," she said, giving him a small smile before exiting her room. Barry stared at his screen, frowning worriedly._

_"But that's when I worry the most…"_

_Dawn was halfway downstairs when she realized she'd forgotten her pokemon. Piplup had been under a large bunch of pillows and blankets, asleep, and the rest of her pokemon were asleep in their pokeballs. She looked at the door. _

_It was nothing. How could she disturb her Pokemon over nothing? _

_She let out a long sigh, the uneasiness in her stomach still there as she stepped off the last step, heading towards the kitchen. Her feet stopped moving, and her eyes darted to the left, something catching her attention. _

_A small, purple sphere was floating in the middle of her living room. _

_"What is that…?" she whispered lowly, turning towards it. The glowing sphere began to increase in size, until it was three feet taller than her. The sphere suddenly flashed a white color, and then returned to its normal color, something now hovering inside it. A white, humanoid silhouette floated eerily in the middle of the sphere. _

_Dawn's eyes widened. She took a quick step back, but other than that, she couldn't move at all. The humanoid figure opened its glowing blue eyes. It stretched out its arms, the air in the room quickly picking up._

_She let out a loud scream before her body hit the wall. _

-…-

Ruby shot forward, letting out a loud gasp, placing her palm over her racing heart forcefully. The drumming under her hand and the drumming in her ears matched perfectly in rhythm. She panted loudly; cold sweat streamed down her forehead and her body shook softly. She darted her eyes around her dark room, letting them rest on her window. The moon's light peeked through the window's blinds, it being the only thing illuminating her room.

Her clock showed it was twelve minutes passed midnight.

"No," she whispered, running a hand through her snow-white hair. It had already happened. "No!"

She kicked away her bed sheets and jumped off of her bed, slamming her door open and racing downstairs. She was outside in no time, the cold wind nipping at her legs. She quickly ignored it, racing down the street. Dawn's house couldn't be far. It was only a quick walk away. Two blocks. She could save her.

She could save someone this time.

Her feet slammed hard against the road, and when she felt cold soil and grass under her feet, she realized she had no actual plan on how she would save Dawn. This didn't stop her from racing down her lawn, and it didn't stop her from slamming her door open.

The living room was a complete mess. Glass and wooden furniture were smashed against the carpeted floor, a table was smashed into pieces, and there was a large indent on the navy blue wall. Lying next to the wall was a pale body baring blue hair that seemed to be burnt at the tips.

Dawn.

She shook her head softly, covering her mouth with a shaky hand. That couldn't be Dawn. The only excuse she could find was that Dawn had a ponytail, but that must have been burned with the attack as well. Even her clothes had burns and tears. Her face was covered by her hair and ruble, which made Ruby somewhat glad. She couldn't face seeing her lifeless face. She'd already seen the beginning of her death.

Judging by the time she left, Barry would be there at any time. Ruby turned around and sped off, unable to get those cold, blue eyes out of her mind.

* * *

_Nara: *smiles sheepishly at an angry crowd* Bet you guys didn't see that coming..._

_Ruby is a totally new character, I don't know if there's a character in the anime/manga series with a similar name, but I'll just put that out there. _

_Anyways, I've done good with keeping up with the deadline :D I had this written out in a journal, which probably helped, but this next chapter will be different since I don't have it written out yet. I wonder if I'll meet my deadline..._

_Thank you for viewing n.n I hope you guys liked it~ c: _


	4. The Burden, Part 1

After locking up, Ruby slowly made her way to her bed room, the warmth of her house embracing her in such a soothing way. Still, images of what she'd dreamt and the destroyed house she'd seen ran through her head, sending chills down her spine.

Upon opening the door to her room, rolling in her sheets was her Growlithe. He noticed her enter and barked loudly, giving her a glare.

_"Why did you leave without me?"_

"Why did you get out of your pokeball?" Ruby grumbled, throwing herself to her bed. She buried her head under a pillow, trying to drown out the world, but that never worked for her.

_"Hey,"_ Growlith barked, pawing at the pillow hiding Ruby. _"Hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey!"_ Growlithe barked.

And barked, and barked, and barked…

"What?" Ruby shouted, tossing the pillow at him. Growlithe whined.

_"What happened?"_

"I couldn't save her," Ruby mumbled.

_"Save who?" _

"Dawn."

_"What're you-" _

"I had a vision, and Dawn was in it. It was another one with the purple murderer. I thought I could save her, but I couldn't," Ruby explained, letting out a long sigh. It was already 1 am. Growlithe slowly walked over towards her stomach, then climbed on and sat down contently. He gave Ruby a curious look.

_"So she's… gone?" _Ruby grimaced.

"Yeah…"

_"The burden of being an Absol."_

"I'm still a human being."

_"That's even more of a burden," _Growlithe barked dramatically, resting his head on his paws and watching his master with intent.

Ruby sighed. Ever since she was given the burden, nothing went right anymore.

-...-

It all started when she was ten. The day she couldn't start her journey as a Pokemon trainer. Her two best friends, Ash and Gary, went off and received their own Pokemon, went off on their own journeys, but her parents wouldn't allow her to get a pokemon, even less go on a journey. She really wanted to travel with Ash and Gary, but her parents thought otherwise.

After a few days, her life grew silent without Ash and Gary. She wandered to their hang out and on the way met a man. This man wore a lab coat and covered his eyes behind black shades. He looked quite old, probably Gary's grandfather's age. Ruby thought nothing of him, until he spoke a sentence that swept her off her feet.

"I've got a pokemon for anyone who wants to start their journey."

Ruby stopped in her tracks, then peered back at him with hopeful eyes.

"Really?"

"Sure, kid. Just follow me." She would have followed him anywhere.

Being the naïve ten year old she was, Ruby followed the man, but he didn't give her a pokemon. He gave her a rag over her face with a smell that overwhelmed her senses enough to make her black out.

She woke up inside a strange glass tube. She stood up, staggered back and hit her back against the glass. It was overwhelmingly enclosed, and she could barely breathe in such a place.

She freaked out immediately.

Ruby kicked and punched the glass, screamed, cried, and begged to be let out, but the lab coat man had no such mercy. He was a creep for kidnapping a ten year old girl, and demented for snarling the words, "I will electrocute you if you don't shut up," at her.

And she was an idiot for following him.

After sobbing herself dry, she noticed the tube next to her. A boy with long, red hair was in the tube, hugging his knees to his chest and simply staring off into the distance. Ruby let out a sigh; at least she wasn't alone. She faced him, and knocked against the glass. The boy looked over at her with sad but stunning golden eyes.

"Do something!" Ruby shouted. All the boy did was frown softly, then turn away. Ruby stared in disbelief.

It was hopeless, wasn't it?

A long time passed, long enough for Ruby to have lost track of what day they were on.

Lab coat man walked over to her slowly, holding a device close to his mouth.

"Subject 359. Female, estimated ninety pounds, estimated four feet five inches, brown hair, brown eyes. Electrocution begins now."

She stared at him with wide eyes as he reached forward, and with a click of a button, electricity filled the glass tube and hit her body, making her feel like she was struck by lightning. It wasn't too long that she passed out from the pain, and when she woke up, she was a different person.

For one thing, her appearance was all too different. Her brunette hair was gone, replaced by snow white hair. Only a chuck of hair was black for some odd reason. Also, her eyes were bright red, not soft brown. Everything else appeared to be the same.

Except, she felt different as well. She felt… heavier, even though the lab coat man announced she was the same in height and weight. Something was weighing her down, and she didn't know what it was. He described her appearance into the recording device, then walked to the back of the room. Ruby looked down at her hands. She felt as if something was going to happen; claws were going to appear or flame would burst from her fingers. None of that happened.

She looked over at the red haired boy. He was still there, still staring off into the distance. Ruby knocked on the glass again, catching his attention. She gave him a broad smile, but it seemed he didn't have the strength to smile back. He simply stared at her with those golden eyes until lab coat man appeared.

"I will now present Subject 359 with a Rattata."

Ruby looked over at him. The man held out a caged Rattata, who was screeching out loudly and trying desperately to escape the cage. It suddenly stopped fussing and stared at Ruby. It started screeching loudly again. But what amused Ruby the most was how she could understand what it- he was saying.

_"Help me, please help me! He's used me for his experiments enough, I can't stand the drugs anymore!"_

Ruby gasped, her gasp echoing around the glass tube eerily. "Drugs? Experiments? Who is he?"

_"He's demented," _the Rattata cried before being taken away by lab coat man.

"Subject seems to be able to not only understand, but communicate with the Rattata well. DNA infusion successful. I will try it on Subject 0, but will try to find a way for appearance to remain the same, and for transformation between DNA's to be possible."

"DNA infusion," Ruby repeated, staring at her reflection. "What did he do?"

"He mixed you with an Absol." Ruby quickly faced the boy.

"What?"

"He mixed you with the DNA of an Absol. He wanted to see if he could make the perfect human being."

"The perfect human being?" Ruby asked. The boy nodded.

"He said the perfect human being will be one of us. The perfect human being will be able to be both pokemon and human. He said you are imperfect." Somehow, being called imperfect, even by such a crazy man, hurt her.

"Why?" she asked.

"He said your appearance changing was one thing. But he says you can't change between pokemon and human." Ruby stayed silent, processing everything that was going on. "I think you're perfect." Ruby looked at him, dumbfounded.

"Huh?"

"I-I think your perfect," the boy replied, hugging his knees to his chest and hiding the pink in his cheeks.

"Thanks," Ruby replied, smiling broadly at him. "Are you going to be the perfect human being?" Ruby asked, pressing her forehead against the glass.

"I think so. I don't want to be. I just want to get out of here," he mumbled, sadness flooding his golden eyes overwhelmingly. Ruby frowned.

"Me too. I want to go home. I want to see mom and dad, and Gary and Ash. I… What if they don't recognize me?" The boy didn't reply. "What if they won't accept me…"

"That's their loss," the boy mumbled. Ruby smiled.

"What's your name?" Ruby asked. "Mine's Ruby."

"I'm-"

"Subject 0. Male, red hair, gold-yellow eyes, estimated 90 pounds, estimated four feet seven inches. Electrocution begins now."

"No!" Ruby shouted, slamming her fist against the glass. Her attempts were futile. When the man clicked the button, Ruby closed her eyes and covered her ears.

She still heard the boys scream.

She decided not to open her eyes. Whatever had been done to her, she couldn't bare to watch. She curled up into a ball and sobbed herself to sleep.

She woke up to the lab coat man's voice.

"DNA belonged to pokemon Mewtwo. Subject 0 currently in its pokemon form."

Ruby blinked her eyes open.

"He's not an it," she hissed, sitting up and looking over at the tube next to her.

It took her breath away. She never knew what a Mewtwo looked like, but it looked stunning and powerful. He was simply floating in the middle of the tube, a calm look on his face. He appeared to be asleep, his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Ruby stared in complete amazement.

"The perfect human being," she muttered softly, then frowned. Was being part Pokemon exactly perfect? What about being ignored and shunned? What about the pain of becoming perfect? She didn't like being perfect at all.

She knocked on the glass, hoping to get his attention. He opened his eyes, then looked over at her with an intense look that left her speechless. Somehow, she found her words.

"Do you like being perfect?" He didn't respond immediately, but his expression changed. That expression of calmness and power changed into something of hurt and anger both at the same time. He closed his eyes.

"No."

His eyes shot open, now completely blue. The tube he was in filled with a strange purple aura. But that didn't impress her as much as the long, thin jagged line growing on the glass tube. The lab they were in began to howl a siren. Lab coat man rushed into the room from the back. He ran forward, his mind most likely set on the electrocution button, but he didn't make it. The glass shattered open, sending a powerful blow around the room that was powerful enough to both blind Ruby and break her tube's glass.

She screamed loudly until the ringing in her ears went away. When it seemed as if everything was calm, she blinked her eyes open and looked up at the destroyed lab.

Lab coat man was covered in ruble, and the boy was gone.

She ran away. She didn't know where she was, but she ran until she saw Viridian City. And when she got to Viridian, she kept running despite her dry throat and heavy legs. She didn't stop, only when she came into a Pokemon Center.

"Help me," she managed to choke out before she tripped on her own feet and collapsed into a tiring sleep.

* * *

_Nara: Yes, I know~ It's Sunday~ I missed my stupid deadline~ I have a reason though. I stayed over at a friend's house this weekend, so I couldn't exactly work on it. When I came back Saturday, though, I began working on it. I was distracted by Friends and Coraline, but at 4 am, I finished typing this portion. I was still in the mood to write, so I wrote even more. This chapter was supposed to be ten pages long, almost 4,000 words! But, that's long xD So this is about 1,500 words, maybe a bit more, cos I wanted to leave it at this specific place :3_

_What do you think~ This was totally worth not sleeping xD Just kidding, I slept a good 10 hours. The things I do for you guys :3 Welp, tell me what you think n_n The new chapter should be out by maybe Wednesday, three days from now, since it's already all written out. But maybe I'll torture you and wait until Saturday c:_

_Bye, thanks for reading n_n_


	5. The Burden, Part 2

She woke up again to a man's voice, but she was sure it wasn't the lab coat man's voice. The voice was somehow soothing, but the beeping in the background was disconcerting. She blinked her eyes open only to see a white ceiling.

"…Where am I?" she said weakly. The man stopped saying whatever he was saying, stood up and walked over to Ruby. The sight of his white lab coat unnerved her. "A-Are you going to hurt me?"

"What? No, honey, I'm a doctor, I'm supposed to make you feel better," he chuckled, clicking a button that Ruby half-expected to electrocute her. Instead, the bed she was lying on began to lift up from the top, propping her up until she was sitting comfortably. "What happened to you? You had gashes all over your body from something like broken glass."

"I did?" she asked, looking down at her arms. They were covered in bandages, down to her fingertips. "Oh."

"What happened?" Ruby pressed her lips into a thin line. Could she tell him? Could she tell him that a man changed her into a some kind of pokemon-human experiment? What if she did tell him, and he was too repulsed to even attend to her anymore?

"I… got lost. I got lost and I don't remember the rest," she replied lowly, scratching at her bandages. "Could you call my parents?"

"Sure. What's your name?"

"Ruby Takumi." The doctor nodded, writing her name down and walking away. He entered a room in the back, and at the same time, a nurse with pink hair walked in, a fat pink pokemon following closely.

"Hello! I'm Nurse Joy, and this is my assistant Chansey."

_"Nice to meet you!" _Ruby's eyes widened. She'd almost forgotten that she could understand pokemon.

"Is there anything we can get you?" Nurse Joy asked with a soft voice that was music to her ears.

"Uhm… I'm kind of hungry." Nurse Joy nodded, exiting the room and bringing back a bowl of warm soup a few minutes later.

The rest of the day, Nurse Joy and Chansey attended to her until her parents finally came for her. Her mother was the first to see her.

"Ruby, honey I'm so glad you-" Ruby's mother cut herself off when she got a good look at the white haired girl. "I'm sorry, I think I got the wrong room. I'll just be leaving no-"

"Mom, it's me. Ruby," Ruby said, voice shaky and lips quivering. She looked away from her and stared at her bandaged hands. "I knew you wouldn't recognize me. I knew it..."

The doctor walked in and the questions began. What happened? Why did she look so different? Was that really her daughter? Then, why did she look like that? When her father walked in, he had the exact same confused expression, which stabbed at Ruby's chest even more. Chansey walked in, holding a bowl full of strawberries for Ruby.

_"What's wrong, Miss Ruby?" _Chansey asked, handing her the bowl.

"They don't love me anymore," Ruby mumbled, offering a strawberry to the Chansey. She took it gladly.

_"You're wrong. They are your family, I'm sure they love you."_

"I'm not the same person anymore, though. I'm different."

_"Different is good!"_

"Not this kind of different." She sighed, smiling at the pink pokemon. "At least you don't judge me that way." She looked back at her parents, who quickly averted their gaze elsewhere.

That same day, she could go home. The ride back home was completely silent. Dinner was awkward.

Everything was different, and it only got worse.

A week later, she had her first vision. It was horrible, filled with cold and realistic looking events. Her dream was of a small girl who wandered away from her family during a camping trip. The night fell quite quickly, and it was eerily dark when the first spec of white fell from the sky. Then came its army, and a blizzard began. The little girl couldn't take the coldness, and curled up into a ball and fell asleep into her own death. It sounded like nothing, but it was scary and creepy to Ruby. She woke up gasping for air and shaking with fright. She climbed out of her bed and turned on the lights, then couldn't go back to sleep.

And the more she was having them, the more realistic those dreams looked to her. When her mom and dad went off to work, she snuck into her father's study and clicked his laptop on. She began her research, first on 'the perfect human being.' She found many things, but not what she was looking for. Then, she searched for Absol.

_"The Pokemon Absol can also predict catastrophes, like blizzards and floods. The pokemon will then go to alert the people in trouble, but sometimes they are mistaken to have caused these catastrophes."_

"So Absols have visions too! But, not about people dying…," Ruby said to herself softly. All she could come up with was that the Absol's DNA was giving her the ability to predict someone's death. It was interesting, but a scary ability to have. Ruby wanted nothing to do with it.

But the visions kept coming, quite frequently in fact. Not only that, her parent's relationship was getting worse and worse. They constantly blamed each other for what happened to Ruby, all the while Ruby blamed herself. They all handled it quite differently. Ruby stayed silent most of the time, her mind always running. Her father stayed out of the house, quit his job and went out with friends. He came home late and tired, his movements jumbled up and his words slurred. Her mother overworked herself, stressing out and trying to block her mind of everything except what she was working on. Soon, her father left them, which drove her mother into depression.

Depression took its toll on both of them.

The dream was by far the worst. She instantly recognized her mother's face. She looked just like Ruby, but older. Well, how she would have looked. Her mother walked over to her bathroom, sitting in the middle of her bathtub with a small yellow jar in her hand. Her eyes were cold and dark, rimmed with dark circles which suggested lack of sleep. Her expression was grim; Ruby couldn't tell what she was thinking. But it slowly came to her as her mother began to open the small jar. She poured out small, circular pills, about ten of them, and dropped them into her mouth. It wasn't long before her eyes closed and she fell back, breaking Ruby from her dream.

"MOM!" Ruby screamed, jumping out of her bed and rushing to her mother's room. The door was locked. Ruby screamed loudly, kicking at the door as hard as she could.

"Mom! Mom stop! Don't do this to yourself! Don't do this!" Ruby screamed, punching at the door with enough force to leave her knuckles bloody.

"I need to find a pokemon!" Ruby said to herself, turning around and running towards the front door. She ran outside and looked around in the dark. She sped off towards her old hang out.

She almost broke into tears of joy when she saw the small orange pup. And she almost broke into tears of sadness when it began to speed off.

"Wait!" Ruby shouted. "Please help me! My mom's in trouble… Please…" Ruby fell onto her knees and finally began to cry. It was no use. She couldn't help her anymore. She was probably long gone.

_"I- I'm sorry I ran away! Let's go help your mommy!" _the pup barked, biting at her pajamas.

"It's no use," Ruby sobbed. "She's dead. I'm too late."

_"No! Maybe we can help her! Let's go, come on!" _Ruby shook her head, but got up and lead the small dog to her house anyways. The dog was able to tackle the door down after five tries, and luckily the bathroom door was unlocked.

Ruby had been right, though. Her mother was already gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. Growlithe whined.

_"Who did this to her?"_

"I did," Ruby said softly, trudging towards her room. She buried herself under the covers, trying to drown out the world and her conscience that was nagging her. It wasn't her fault, it shouted to her. But there was no way she would believe it.

_"But you tried to save her."_

"I tried, and I failed. She took her own life because her daughter's gone."

_"You're right here, though."_

"I'm not the same anymore, that's what I mean."

_"But you were still her daughter! She should have accepted you the way you are."_

"Yeah, well, she didn't," Ruby hissed. When the pup didn't respond, she sat up and looked around. He was gone.

Minutes passed and she heard sirens wailing outside. She got to her feet and sped to the living room. Through the window, she could see the red and blue flashing lights.

"How did they…" Ruby walked to the door just as someone began knocking. She opened the door and looked up at a woman dressed in blue.

"Hi, I'm Officer Jenny," she said weakly, giving a small smile. She raised an eyebrow at her.

"Is there a problem. This little growlithe right here sent me here." She pointed a finger down at the small pup. Growlithe gave her a doggy smile.

_"You're welcome."_

"What's the problem?" Officer Jenny asked. Ruby looked up at her. Her eyes began to swell up with tears.

"My mom killed herself." Jenny's eyes went wide.

"O-Oh… Where is she?"

"In the last room. She's in the bathroom."

"I'll be right back honey. Just stay with your Pokemon." Jenny commanded, and then rushed down the hallway. Ruby followed slowly, and stopped in her tracks when she heard Jenny speak.

"Yes, I know… No, no sign of life. Suicide, yes… I- Pills, she used pills… Yes, she has a kid. There's no sign of her father- Yes. She'll have to be sent to a foster home, then? Okay, let me examine the lady… Yes-"

"A foster home? I don't want to go to a foster home!" Ruby hissed, shaking her head. "No… I have to leave."

_"Huh? Where are you going?"_ Ruby stared at the growlithe.

"Far away from here."

She ran outside, her mind set on Viridian. She'd hide there, and then she'd think of what to do, where she'd go. She was out of Pallet when she noticed the pup was still following her.

"Why are you following me?" she asked, glaring at him. "Scram!"

_"But… I want to go with you." _Ruby raised her eyebrows at him.

"You… do?"

_"Yeah!" _the growlithe barked loudly, jumping up and down. _"I don't have a trainer, so it's okay. You can be my trainer, yeah?"_

"I… I don't have a pokeball with me right now."

_"That's okay! I'll stay with you until you get one!" _Ruby smiled.

"Okay Growlithe. Thanks. You're all I've got right now."

_"You're welcome, master!" _Ruby smiled warmly.

"Call me Ruby."

When she made her way to Viridian City, she asked the Nurse Joy in charge of the Pokemon Center where she could go in order to get to Sinnoh. Sinnoh was farthest away from there, other than Unova, but the sound of Sinnoh was bliss to her. She informed Ruby that Cerulean City had a boat that could take her there. But, it cost money to be able to buy a ticket. The nurse did her a favor, though, and handed her a shiny red and white sphere to catch Growlithe. Once that was done, she set out to defeat as many trainers as she could to get enough money to buy a ticket. She came to Sinnoh, and started living in Twinleaf town in a vacation home her father paid for.

And that, she thought, was proof that her father hadn't completely abandoned her. There was still hope, somehow.

Her life calmed down a bit. The dreams began to go away, until she rarely had them. Only recently had she started having more of them. Unfortunately, to watch some of your childhood friend's friends die was a great burden, and a great nightmare. After having those kinds of dreams, she couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. She'd seen Misty's murder, Brock's, and now Dawn's.

If she were to see anyone else's, what would she do?

* * *

_Nara: If she was to see anyone else's murder... is that a hint ;3?_

_Aha, I'm a nice person and posted it today n_n Today's Wednesday right? Okay yes~ Welp, I hope you guys like it :D I think it was kinda rushed T-T But its time to move on from the flashback xD I might post Saturday, hopefully I do :3 _

_Welp, thanks for reading n_n Bye~_


	6. Three Weeks

Ruby heard all about Dawn on the news. It made her feel guilty for not having done anything. Growlithe kept telling her over and over again that there was nothing she _could_ do, but it didn't stop her from nagging at herself.

A lot of people were greatly saddened. Her friends, her family, and her fans. It was even decided that there would be a ceremony for Dawn during the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Ruby couldn't go, though. She wouldn't be able to stand the sight of sobbing faces, especially while having seen what happened to Dawn. While knowing she could have done something.

_"You're always so hard on yourself," _Growlithe said, jumping onto Ruby's lap and staring at Ruby's laptop screen.

"I could have done something."

_"Just because you know something's gonna happen doesn't mean you can stop it from happening," _Growlithe barked.

"Yeah well," Ruby began, resting her chin on Growlithe's head. "Shut up. You just love arguing don't you?" Growlithe chuckled.

_"Absol's have visions of catastrophe's like major snowstorms and hurricanes, right?"_

"Mmhm."

_"Well, the Absol can't stop them, can they?" _Ruby pouted in slight defeat.

"But they at least notify the people in trouble!"

_"You don't have the time to do that! Once you wake up, they're gone." _Ruby sighed loudly.

"Imagine if I had that time… If I just could save someone… I'm sure I'd stop having these stupid vision nightmares."

_"You think so?" _Growlithe said with a big doggy grin. Ruby smiled.

"You never know. What does it matter to you, anyways?"

_"I don't like seeing master so stressed out." _He licked her chin, and when she returned the favor by scratching behind his ear, Growlithe's tail wagged furiously. Ruby let out a yawn.

"I'm heading to bed," Ruby grumbled, closing her laptop shut and wrapping her arms around Growlithe. She tackled him onto the bed, causing him to bark angrily and squirm around in her arms.

"Want to go back inside your ball?"

_"Sure."_

"… It's really far away. You get to sleep on the rug tonight."

_"The metal sphere is more comfortable than the rug!"_

"Don't get snappy with me, mister."

_"You're not my mother!"_

"I basically… am…. Go to sleep where you please then," Ruby grumbled, hugging onto her pillow and slowly dozing off. She felt Growlithe nibble on her toes before finally letting the sleep envelope her.

But only to be sucked into another nightmare.

-…-

_Gary woke up to rain and thunder brewing outside, but even that didn't stop him from rushing to his gym. He was sure no one would bother to walk to the gym in this whether, but better safe than sorry. Umbreon curled into a ball at the foot of the chair Gary was sitting on, shivering softly. The gym was quite cold, and the storm wasn't helping much either. It'd also be silent if it wasn't for the crashing of thunder outside. Somehow, it gave Gary a peacefully eerie feeling._

_Gary tilted his head back and closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh. A month had passed since Dawn was murdered. Two since Misty and Brock were murdered. Over a year since Ash had left. _

_Everything was slowly drowning him. He could feel himself sinking into something deep, dark, and thick, and it was gradually choking him. He couldn't sleep because of the darkness wrapping around his heart. All he did was toss and turn at night, or stare at the ceiling with either nothing running through his head or thoughts of everyone dead or, in Ash's case, missing._

_Was that what it was like to be depressed? Was that the darkness? Was it depression?_

_He realized he had no one. His arrogance and cold personality as a child left him without friends, and his cold personality even cost him the only friend he had. Maybe if he'd been a bit nicer and if he would have stopped shoving his abilities down everyone's throat and let someone talk every once in a while, he could have made more friends. Just maybe, those friends would be with him right now, helping him out during his darkest time. _

_He, at least, had his Pokemon, but his Pokemon couldn't speak to him. He needed pep-talk, comforting words, but he appreciated the gestures from his Pokemon. He loved them so very dearly, every time they cuddle up in his arms or rubbed their heads against his neck. He wished that was enough, but he'd turned greedy. He needed comforting words, a human hand to pull him out of the thickening sea._

_But he was alone._

_A loud noise outside snapped him out of his ill thoughts. He shot his eyes open and sat up._

_"What was that?" he asked. Umbreon shook his head. "Just lightning…"_

_Another crash erupted. It was nothing like lightning. It sounded like someone was banging on the gym's door. It wasn't the sound of a simple teenager knocking, though; it sounded like someone like Lt. Surge was punching at the door._

_"It's open!" Gary shouted as he stood up, but the crashing continued. He narrowed his eyes at the door._

_Crash. Crash. Crash._

_"What the hell," Gary growled under his breath. He heard thunder rolling outside, and the crashing suddenly stopped. "…What was-"_

_A huge bright light flashed across the room. Gary brought his arm up to shield his eyes. He squinted, but couldn't make out anything until the flash dulled away. And even then, he could hardly see anything but a bright light. A bright purple light in the shape of a sphere. _

_"You," he hissed after a few moments. He glared at the white silhouette floating in the middle of the sphere with a sense leisure that ticked Gary off. "I know who you are." The silhouette didn't even stir. _

_"You killed Misty. You killed Dawn. You killed Brock." There was no reaction, and somehow that not only angered Gary, but frightened him as well. _

_"Did you kill Ash too?" _

_"Hmf." Gary's eyes widened, but then went right back to glaring daggers. His fingers curled up into fists. His jaw clenched. _

_"You're not going to kill me. I actually have my Pokemon." He looked down where his Umbreon was. Where he _should_ have been._

_He was gone, too. _

_Gary's eyes went wide with realization. He could feel himself shaking with both anger and fear. He looked back at the silhouette, and yet, it still hadn't moved an inch. _

_"You're not going to kill me. You're not going to kill me or Ash!" he shouted, finally letting lose all the anger he felt towards this… thing. He ran forward, realized he had no idea what he was doing, but kept going. It was reckless, but he couldn't stop himself. If he could get the chance, he'd at least punch the figure across the jaw. _

_The white silhouette's eyes shot open, revealing their glowing blue color. He outstretched his arm and a purple energy enveloped Gary, slowly crushing every bone in his body. Immense pain spread throughout him, and he couldn't breathe. _

_If he could scream, he would. And somehow, knowing he couldn't even scream out in pain told him the inevitable._

_If Ash wasn't already dead, this thing would kill him._

_He was going to die, and so was Ash. _

-…-

"NO!" Ruby screamed, sitting up and holding her head in her hands. She clenched her teeth and breathed in deeply, blinking away the tears rushing down her cheeks.

_"Ruby! Ruby, what's wrong?" _

She softly shook her head, her whole body trembling. She began to pull at her hair, alarming Growlithe.

_"Ruby, tell me what's wrong!" _She tried, but all Ruby managed to choke out was a shaky sob. _"Ruby…"_

Growlithe walked onto Ruby's lap and rubbed the top of his head against Ruby's cheek comfortingly. The action calmed her down gradually, until Ruby was able to wrap her arms around him and lie back down.

_"What did you see?"_

"The murderer," she mumbled, scenes from her vision replaying in her mind. The stormy clouds outside, the sound of lightning, Gary's pained expression.

_"Who did they murder?"_

"Gary. They murdered Gary!" she shouted, covering her face with her hands. "Why? God, why?"

_"Calm down-"_

"It was all so real, too! This one was different! I could feel what he was feeling, see everything around him- I even knew what he was thinking!" She suddenly sat up, eyes wide with a sudden thought.

"Wait. Wait, I heard what he was thinking. He was thinking about everyone that died. He thought to himself that it'd been a month since Dawn died. It's only been a week!" She sighed with relief, smiled softly, then put on a determined face. "I can save him. I can save someone this time!"

_"I don't think that's a good idea-"_

"No, I have to save him! He was my childhood friend, Growlithe. And he's having a really hard time. I can help him."

_"Do you really want to do that?" _Growlithe asked. Ruby quickly scrambled out of bed and began doing everything at once. She did her hair while she brushed her teeth. She packed up her bag while she pulled on some clothes. She was in such a hurry; she didn't even hear Growlithe barking at her.

_"Ruby! Ruby!" _Finally fed up, Growlithe launched forward and gave Ruby's ankle a light bite, light enough not to hurt her, but at least grab her attention.

"Wha- what?" Ruby asked, looking down at the angry orange pokemon. Growlithe sighed.

_"You have to stop and think." _And with that, she finally calmed down.

"You're right," she mumbled, swiveling a chair towards her and sitting down. She propped up her elbow against her knee and rested her chin on her hand, looking up at her ceiling. "Stop and think. Stop… and… think… Okay. Dawn was murdered last week, a week has passed. That means we have three weeks to get to Gary. It takes about a week to get to Snowpoint City, where we can get a ticket to the ship that'll take us to Cerulean. Cerulean is right next to Viridian City, so once we get off the boat, we can find Gary. He's apparently a gym leader…. That means we'll get to him two weeks before that murderer can lay a finger on him."

_"Unless he changes his plans."_

"Unless he changes his- Don't put that kind of negativity in the air!" Ruby shouted, standing up and tossing the last bit of potions she needed into her backpack. "We're leaving today."

_"What? But it's barely even past midnight!" _Growlithe whined. Ruby rolled her eyes at him, taking out his pokeball.

"It's not like I'm going to sleep anyways. I'm just going to waste precious time if we don't leave now. You can stay in your pokeball if you want." Growlithe shook his head.

_"No way am I going to let you walk in the dark alone. I've got to protect you." _Ruby smiled.

"Suit yourself. We're going to find Gary, and we're going to take this murderer down," Ruby said as she exited her room with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Growlithe followed closely after her, shaking his head softly. He thought back to what Ruby had suggested. What she would do if she had the time to save someone. He guessed they were about to find out.

Ruby locked the door to her house, turned around and stared forward. She was going to find Gary, and she was going to save him. She was certain she'd get hurt in some way. She was getting in the way of a _murder's plan. _Ruby knew she had to be careful, but it wasn't her fault she was getting carried away. Finally, she had the time to save someone, and not just anyone, her childhood friend. Which brought her mind wandering back to another topic.

During her vision, she knew everything Gary was thinking. He'd thought about Ash, and how it had been over a year since Ash went missing. Ash went missing? What happened?

_"Hey," _Growlithe barked, pawing at Ruby's shoe. _"We going or what?"_

"Yeah," Ruby said, pressing her lips together in a thin line. "Let's go."

* * *

_Nara: You guys are going to flip tables when you read the next part. MWWAHAHAHHAHA :3 It involves a certain... NAH I WON'T TELL YA :DD n_n_

_Again, thanks for reading :D I think I just got over 430 views, and 6 people have this on their alerts :3 I think I may update Wednesday, cos I have the next chapter written out again~ Only time shall tell~~_

_Thanks again :3_


	7. The Prisoner and The Puppet

Off the west coast of Sinnoh was Iron Island, only accessible by a boat in Canalave City. The island was once a prosperous ore mine, but after the ore reserves dried up, the island was used in two ways. One, for trianers to train their pokemon. Two, to keep dangerous prisoners away from Sinnoh.

The jail was kept on the far side of the island where no one went, and if someone wandered off towards the prison, they were quickly directed back by one of the security guards, which the prison was full of. Officer Jenny was strict with everyone, but it was understandable. Some of the most dangerous people were kept in the prison, including the old admins of Team Galactic. Officer Jenny made sure no one got in and out of the prison and the island itself without her knowing. Escaping was almost impossible.

Almost.

The security guards sped up and down the prison halls frantically, taking the time to ask each and every one of the prisoners what they knew. It was hard to get anything out of them, on account of the daggers in their eyes and the sirens wailing overhead.

Someone had escaped, and the sirens weren't helping the stress of the situation.

There was no sight of any destruction anywhere. It was past midnight, meaning no boats were active at the time. No one willing to give any information knew who had escaped. They were halfway through examining the top floor when Officer Jenny burst in.

"Did you find out who escaped?" she barked, the security guards giving her nervous looks.

"N-No sir," one of them responded. "We're almost done examining this last floor, sir."

"Did ya check Saturn's cell?" a voice said. All of their heads whipped towards the cell in which the voice's owner stood. Jenny walked over to the cell, peering inside. The purple-haired girl gave her a cold hearted grin.

"What makes you think Saturn broke out, Jupiter?" Jenny asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at the woman. She shrugged.

"Might of heard somethin' from him. He kept gabberin to himself, I couldn't help but listen in."

"She's right," one of the guards said as he peered into the cell. Jenny rushed over to Saturn's cell as the guard slid the cell door open. No one was inside. Jenny walked in, the clicking of her heels echoing around the room. She looked around, but there weren't any clues showing her how he left. No holes on the brick wall, nothing on the ceiling, or the ground. The room was absolutely spotless.

"Officer Jenny… What should we do?" Jenny let out a sigh, facing the guards.

"Find him."

-…-

"Whoa. That kinda hurt, kid."

"Got used to it," the boy sighed as his body slowly went back to normal. He blinked his eyes at the blue haired man. "What?"

"Well, you're just… something else."

"Story of my life. Anyways, I'm done with your stupid assignment. Give me the money you offered and we're done."

"Silver, kid!" the man laughed, squeezing the boy's shoulder. He scrunched up his nose, grabbing a bit of the boy's red hair with his index finger and thumb. "You really need a cut." Silver backed away, swapping away his hand.

"I like it this way. Look, Saturn, I like the small talk and all- Okay, I really don't. I just want my money, and I want to be done with this."

"I guess I know what you mean by the hair thing. They cut my hair real short when I went to prison," Saturn mumbled, running a hand through his buzz cut styled hair. He smirked at Silver darkly. "You know, I can offer you some more money for just another favor." Silver's golden eyes widened.

"More than a five thousand dollars?"

"I'll triple that." The interested look on Silver's face pleased Saturn.

"What's the favor?" Silver asked. He watched as Saturn folded his hands behind his back and paced around the abandoned factory, walking toward a beat up computer. He ran his hand across the metallic keyboard. The thing was missing many pieces, and was covered with a thick layer of dust. That wasn't what he was aiming for, though. Right next to the mouse was a metallic cuff Silver hadn't noticed. Or, at least, Saturn hoped he hadn't noticed. He grabbed the cuff in a discreet matter, turned to Silver and hid his arms behind his back.

"I want to get back at that Ash kid for destroying Team Galactic."

"Get back at him?" Silver asked, crossing his arms. Saturn nodded, glaring softly.

"That kid needs to be dead."

"And what? You want me to kill him for you?"

"Not only that. I heard from the guards that he's been missing for a while. Long enough for the officer protecting the prison I was in to have dropped the case. She'd figured he wouldn't be on such a small island where it'd be easy to find him. But anyways, I'm hoping to catch his attention. If his friends suddenly started dropping like flies, he'd reveal himself, and then we'll kill him."

"Look," Silver began. "First off, I don't like this tone of voice you're using. You sound fucking crazy. Second of all, I don't want to kill anyone. It already blows to have all of this power-"

"It _blows? _Listen to yourself, Silver! You're one of the most powerful Pokemon in the world!"

"I'm not a Pokemon," Silver hissed, resisting the urge of grabbing a handful of Saturn's orange uniform. Preferably the neck area. "I don't want to kill anyone, okay?"

"I guess it wasn't the same with your father, was it?"

That was the last straw.

Silver reached for Saturn's neck, but he didn't expect him to fight back. Saturn grabbed Silver's arm, twisted it behind his back, and slammed him against the wall behind him. Silver groaned, feeling his head throb against the metal wall. Was he bleeding?

_Click._

"What was that?" Silver growled. Saturn flipped him over, his back now against the wall, Saturn's arm pinning Silver down by his neck. If he pressed down anymore he'd choke him.

"This new device I made. It's pretty cool, really." Saturn grabbed Silver's right arm, forcefully bringing it up to his face. "It tells me exactly where you are whenever I want it to."

"What the hell is your deal?" Silver shouted, kicking him in the shin. Saturn winced, but then smirked and brought out a small control.

"I was hoping you'd do something like that. Now I can demonstrate something else this cuff does." Saturn step back, causing Silver to stumble forward and almost fall. Silver clenched his fist, seething with rage. He took a step forward, raising his fist, and then a small beep went off.

Sparks of electricity shot throughout Silver's body, causing him pain all over. He clenched his teeth, falling onto his knees. Waves of pain crawled all over him. His whole body hurt, but he could take this. He had to. He wouldn't scream. He wouldn't show any pain. He wouldn't let Saturn have the pleasure.

Suddenly, the electrocution stopped, leaving Silver's body hot and numb. He noticed his breathing was coming out too short and uneven and took in a deep breathe. Saturn laughed.

"You see? Now you have to do whatever I want! I'll get that thing off of you once Ash is dead."

"Wh-what… makes…"

"Spit it out, kid."

"What makes you think he's alive?" Silver finally choked out, looking up at Saturn. The crazed look in his eyes reminded him of someone. Someone else he'd killed.

"I know he's alive. I know it. And once all of his little friends start falling into trouble, he'll show himself. He'll want to help them, just like he always does. And then, we'll take him out."

"You're crazy," Silver said, staring at the metal cuff on his wrist.

"There's no way you can destroy it, and if you try, it'll shock you to death. It's a bit tight so it won't fall off when you turn into your Mewtwo form. Neat, huh?"

"You're not going to get away with this," Silver hissed, standing up. His legs shook softly; he would've fallen forward if he hadn't had the wall behind him to lean against. Saturn grinned.

"Ah, but I will! If anyone's going to get caught, it's you, but you're quite indestructible yourself, aren't you? Surveillance cameras go wack-o when you send energy waves into the air, and you can teleport anywhere without leaving any trace! I don't think you'll get caught, so you have nothing to worry about. Now…"

Saturn turned around, letting out a small laugh. So far, successful. He'd feel ten times better once that kid was out of the way. Then, maybe, he'd bring back Team Galactic, bring Cyrus back, then throw Cyrus right back in whatever hellhole he fell into. That small taste of success that was flaring his tastebuds from having Silver right at the palm of his hand was sweet. He could just imagine himself taking over Team Galactic. Now that would feel a million times better.

"First off, we'll get his first love. Misty. Then, Brock. Then, Dawn. If he doesn't show up by then, we're gonna have to take down his rival. If that doesn't get him here, I don't know what will."

"Why don't we just take out the rival first?" Silver asked. Saturn grinned.

"I like the way you're talking now!" Silver's eyes widened.

"I just want to get the hell away from you soon." Saturn chuckled.

"Well, I want him to have something to come back for. I want him to come back thinking, I need to make sure they won't get hurt! And who else would he want to protect other than his childhood friend? Now, go kill Misty! Or else you'll get another shocking experience. Hah! See what I did there?"

"Sure," Silver grumbled, clenching his fists together. He let the energy run down his viens, throughout his body, until he was able to quickly morph his body into that of Mewtwo's. His brain felt foggy and different, and he felt stronger and faster, but even the overwhelming energy around him didn't make him feel comfortable. He could raise his arm and go anywhere he pleased, but he didn't want that. And instead, he was being forced to go to Misty's home, to rip her from her life and leave her dead.

He had said he'd never do that to anyone else, no matter how his anger got to him, but now he was a puppet, and the cuff around his wrist was the strings.

* * *

_Nara: DUN. DUN. DUNNNNUNUNUNUNUNNNNNN. And now the real drama starts OuO_

_Ahahah I don't even know if I'll update Saturday cos I haven't written ouo. I'll try~ I went to see the Amazing Spiderman yesterday so that's why I didn't update x3 If anyone else saw it, can I just say that Andrew Garfield's butt is made out of rubber. Not even joking I'm pretty sure it is o_o._

_Anyways, thanks for reading n.n _


	8. Meeting in the City

When night falls over Jubilife City, Ruby knew it was definitely something to see. The tall buildings stretched out into the sky, lighting it up with lights of all colors, from blue to yellow to white. Jubilife City was always alive, even at the dead of night. The cold wind gave the city a nice feel. What would have made it a bit better for Ruby would be if she could see the stars, but the stunning buildings' lights could make up for it a bit. Since it was past midnight, not as many people were out. Those who were awake this late were either inside the lit-up buildings or enjoying the night with a warm cup of coffee and a comfortable jacket.

The area calmed Ruby down, but her heart was still pounding against her ribcage. She couldn't get over the dream's events, and she was starting to feel the weight of responsibility in having to save Gary. Growlithe noticed this all too well.

_"You're gonna have a heart attack if you don't calm down," _he barked as they walked down the streets of Jubilife.

"How can I calm down?" she grumbled. "Whether my best friend dies or not is all up to me."

_"Then… call the police!"_

"You really think they're gonna believe me?"

_"Touché… Look, I know it's a huge thing for you but if you don't calm down a little you won't be able to save him. I mean, look at yourself! Your body's quivering and you can't stop clenching and unclenching your fists!" _Ruby looked down at her hands, slowly unrolling them from their clenched state. He was right, after all. So much happened in just one night and she couldn't take it, even though her brain kept telling her she could do it.

"But… I can save him, Growlithe!" Ruby exclaimed, bringing her thumb to her lips and chewing on her nail.

_"You _can_ save him, Ruby. But not in one night."_ Ruby stopped in her tracks, slowly taking her thumb away from her lips. She looked down at Growlithe, who gave her a sincere look that calmed her down more than the night air could. _"You have three weeks to get to him. I'm sure you'll get to him even before the three weeks are up. Just don't overwork yourself or else you _won't_ get to him. Okay?" _

"O-Okay. You're right."

_"I always am."_

"Don't push it," Ruby growled. Growlithe gave her a sheepish doggy grin. Suddenly, his eyes widened. He tensed up, lifted his left front paw, and raised his snout in the air.

"What is it?" Ruby asked worriedly. A growl began to hum low in his throat as he closed his eyes. Jubilife City was filled with many wild pokemon, but never one strong enough to overwhelm Growlithe's senses enough that his bones stiffened. What could that type of pokemon be doing in a city like Jubilife?

_"A pokemon," _Growlithe barked.

"A pokemon? That's it?"

_"But it's super strong! Follow me!" _Without even giving Ruby a chance to speak, Growlithe sped forward, taking a sharp turn and leaving Ruby in the dust.

"Growlithe wait!" Ruby shouted, running forward and cursing under her breath. She caught up with the orange blur after making two quick turns, but still she remained yards behind him. The two wound up running from the middle of Jubilife to the far left where the buildings were beginning to diminish. Just when she thought Growlithe was going to stop running, he took a sharp turn into an alley.

"G-Growlithe," Ruby choked, the cold air hurting her throat. She took in a deep breath and entered the alley. "Stop, dammit," she coughed out, leaning against the alley wall. She blinked her eyes a bit in the dimness and could make out the orange fur ball that was Growlithe standing before a dark figure. Ruby pressed her lips together slowly.

She was in a dark alley with a stranger. Nothing would go wrong, nothing at all.

"C-Come on Growlithe. Let's go," Ruby mumbled lowly, taking a few steps back.

_"This isn't a pokemon," _Growlithe barked lowly, narrowing his eyes at the figure. It was… just a teenage boy? But he could have sworn he felt the presence of a strong pokemon, not some random kid hanging out in an alley.

"Growlithe," Ruby repeated lowly. Growlithe turned around to face Ruby, who gave him a stern look. "Let's go," she said, turning around and walking away. Growlithe sighed lowly, feet padding against the sidewalk as he walked after her.

Silver took a few steps forward, watching the trainer and her pokemon leave. He felt like he should have said something, instead of silently staring at her and creeping her out, but his eyes were so occupied in examining the girl that his mouth couldn't respond. The girl's hair was a stunning white, the only black in her hair on her left bangs framing her face. She had bright red eyes, pale skin, and she was gorgeous.

And that's how he knew.

It was no coincidence. It couldn't be a coincidence. There was no way…

Her name was Ruby. That's what he remembered. If she said her name was Ruby, then it definitely wasn't a coincidence.

"Wait!" the teen called out, causing Ruby to stop in her tracks. She turned around and opened her lips to speak, but nothing came out. She simply stared at him. At his long red hair and at his golden eyes.

_'No way,' _Ruby thought. _'He… he can't be… is he the mewtwo guy? No way…' _

He looked all too familiar to her, but… How could she find out if it was him or not?

"I-"

"My name's Ruby!" Ruby blurted out, causing the boy to stare back at her. _'Smooth move, Ruby. You get all the boys, don't you?' _She mentally face-palmed at herself. The teen raised an eyebrow at her.

"Uhm… I'm Silver," he said, walking towards her with a straight face. But inside, he was freaking out. It _was_ her. It was the girl the mad scientist had experimented on before him. Did she recognize him? And even if she did, should he tell her? Could he tell her that he's the boy? The boy that's part mewtwo.

No, he couldn't. If he did, she'd get mixed up with Saturn somehow, and he didn't want that to happen.

The two stood there staring at each other, not knowing what to say. Both trying to keep their cool.

"Are you-"

"Did you-"

They both stopped. Ruby laughed lightly.

"Go ahead," she said with a soft smile that shook Silver's insides.

"Right," he mumbled lowly. "Are you staying at the Pokemon Center?" Ruby raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh, yeah, why?" she asked, Growlithe taking a few steps forward and sniffing around Silver. "Growlithe, don't be rude," she hissed, taking out his pokeball. "Come back here or you go in the ball! S-Sorry. Why did you want to know?"

"They're all out of rooms. That's why I've been out here… You know, searching for a place to stay," Silver explained. _'Okay, yes. All very believable. Hopefully she doesn't ask why I was searching for a hotel in a random alley.'_

_'You were searching for a place to stay in an alley. Okay, sure,' _Ruby thought to herself.

"Ahh, that sucks…," Ruby muttered, looking back at the empty street behind her. "I guess I'll just stay at the Pokemon Center in Floramora town." Growlithe growled, giving her a glare.

"Really? I mean, I know a place we could stay at… It's really not that far from here, and it's not very expensive."

"N-No thanks, I think I'll head to Flora-"

_'No! Follow the kid and stay and rest!' _Growlithe barked angrily at her. Ruby let out a sigh.

"Sure. Show me the way, if you will," Ruby said with a smile. Silver nodded, feeling his cheeks flare up slightly. Seeing this girl, Ruby, and the fact that he hadn't slept in a long while were both getting to him. He walked down the street, Ruby trailing behind him. Just before they entered the hotel, Ruby spoke up.

"Hey, have I met you before maybe?" she asked, picking Growlithe up in her arms. Silver bit his lip, shaking his head slowly.

"No, don't think so."

"Oh… okay," Ruby said somewhat disappointedly. Whatever happened to the mewtwo boy was beyond her.

* * *

_Nara: Nine. Nine of you have this story on your alerts. And I just can't deal with that I'm so happy fsdf;lkjefsd x3 Thank you guys for actually reading this~_

_This would have been up yesterday but I went school shopping. That brings back the awful truth that I shall be going back to school in three weeks. ._. woe is me~ _

_Anyways, thank you for reading and please review :3_

_AND THANK YOU FOR ADDING THIS ON YOUR ALERTS dsfj;dskfjsd *insert heart here*_


	9. Flowers and Souvenirs

"I can't believe it's not him," Ruby hissed as she walked into the bathroom, pulling out her toothbrush from her backpack's front pocket.

_"Who?"_ Growlithe asked, scratching behind his ear. Ruby paused.

"Do you need a bath?"

_"No!"_ Growlithe barked almost instantly. He grinned sheepishly. _"I'm fine…"_

"Either I give you a bath and you can sleep on the bed, or you sleep in your pokeball tonight." Growlithe growled, walking over to the bath tub. With another growl, he jumped in, glaring at her. It was a battle he simply couldn't win. He'd simply have to endure it.

_"Do your worst." _Ruby smiled. After brushing her teeth, she kneeled before the bathtub and turned on the water. She grabbed the detachable shower head and began washing Growlithe fur. He whined softly, closing his eyes as the warm water soaked his body. He felt heavier, but nonetheless cleaner, especially when Ruby massaged his body with shampoo.

_"So who were you talking about?"_ Growlithe said as Ruby washed his paws.

"Oh… That Silver kid… I thought he was someone else," Ruby muttered.

_"Who?" _Growlithe asked, tail wagging with curiosity. Ruby frowned.

"Curiosity killed the meowth," Ruby scolded, pouring water over his face. Growlithe shook his head, scowling at her.

_"But I'm your first pokemon! You can tell me anything!"_

"Hm. It's nothing. I just thought he was a kid that was experimented on as well."

_"Well… he did smell kind of weird," _Growlithe said, scrunching up his nose. Ruby scooped him up, wrapping him up in a towel. She laughed lightly.

"You look like a burrito." Growlithe scowled once more. "Anyways, he said he didn't know me, so it's not him."

_"Maybe he forgot about you!"_ Growlithe suggested, closing his eyes as Ruby dried him up. Ruby shook her head.

"I don't think he'd forget the events that happened when a mad-man totally changed his life. It's not him. He's just a guy named Silver who happens to look a lot like the kid."

_"What was the kid's name? Was it Silver?"_

"I never found out," Ruby said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She quickly slipped into her pajamas, turned off the lights and threw herself at her bed. "I guess it doesn't matter anymore," she mumbled lowly, hugging onto her pillow.

_"It doesn't matter? Of course it does! Imagine having someone to talk to that actually understands you!"_ Growlithe exclaimed, pawing at her hands. _"How does that not matter?"_

"Ugh, shut up," Ruby groaned, shooing him away and closing her eyes shut tightly. But, of course, the pokemon was right. A big part of Ruby was hoping this Silver guy _was_ the mewtwo guy because only he would be able to understand her and what she went through. She would have found someone that wouldn't shun her; someone she wasn't afraid to be around.

_Would Gary shun her?_

Ruby put that thought at the very back of her mind and hid it behind the thought of saving Gary. That was what was important at that moment, not what he thought of her. And yet, the thought of Gary shunning her, being disgusted by her, began to seep throughout her thoughts, slowly becoming one of her biggest fears.

-…-

"Are you trying to join the Pokemon League?" Silver asked, shoving a forkful of waffles into his mouth. Sweet, honey-filled waffles.

After having a quick morning shower and tidying up her room, Ruby left for the lobby only to run into Silver. He offered to buy her breakfast, but before she could refuse, her stomach growled loudly and Growlithe barked, both her stomach and him ratting her out so that she couldn't say no to the offer. The two ended up going to a small restaurant that was quite popular, but wasn't packed with people at the time being. At first, it was quite awkward. You could possibly mark the small talk, stares, and fidgety hands under 'The Most Awkward Moment of All History.' After Ruby ordered her chocolate chip pancakes and Silver ordered his plain waffles, though, they found themselves in the first actual conversation they've had in a long time.

"No, not really," Ruby said after swallowing down a bite of pancakes. "I just have to visit someone in Viridian City." Silver's face hardened. He'd actually be heading to Viridian City in a month or so, if the Ash kid doesn't come out from wherever he's hiding.

"Well then I guess I'll come with you."

"Eh? Why?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I want to," Silver replied bluntly, swallowing the last of his waffles. Ruby frowned.

"O-Okay? But only until Snowpoint City. I want to meet my friend alone," Ruby said, pushing her plate away. She didn't know what would happen when she met Gary; what state he'd be in, how he would react…

If he would be alive…

No. Negative thought. No good.

"Ruby," Silver called out again, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts.

"Oh, ah, sorry. What?"

"Ready to leave?" Silver repeated, smirking. Ruby beamed back.

"Yeah. Let's go, then."

-…-

The road to Floramora Town wasn't all that long, but it seemed to pass by quickly. The two of them got along great. Ruby was actually glad that he felt like tagging along. She felt a lot less lonely having an actual human being like her enough to travel with her. Silver was kind of quiet, but she guessed he preferred to listen, even though what Ruby had to say wasn't much interesting to her. But Silver thought otherwise. Everything this girl said, every gesture her face made, everything about her…

"Wow," Ruby mused as they entered Floaroma Town. "This town lives up to its name." The town was filled with flowers of different colors and types, and the air smelled of perfume, when really it was just all of the flowers. Ruby took in a deep breath, taking in all the scents, just as Silver let out a small sneeze. She turned to him, holding back a laugh.

"Sorry," he grumbled, shaking his head. "My nose itched or something… You know, it gets better."

"What does?"

"Floaroma Town. Have you ever seen the meadow?"

"A meadow?" Ruby asked. Silver nodded, gathering all the courage he had and grabbing her hand, tugging her forward.

"It's this way." They both felt their cheeks flare up, thankful they weren't facing each other. At that moment, Ruby felt some kind of metal rub against her wrist. She looked down at Silver's wrist and saw a strange metal bracelet-like thing around his wrist just barely peeking out from under his sleeve. A small red dot blinked on the bottom, making her think the cuff wasn't just a fashion statement.

"Hey… What's this bracelet?" Ruby asked, pulling up his jacket's sleeve with her other hand. Silver tensed his arm.

_"Crap…"_

"Nothing… it's just a type of… Pokétch," Silver said, grinning successfully in his mind.

"Oh? Where'd you get it?"

_"Dammit with your questions!" _Silver hissed in his head.

"Jubilife City. A long time ago, when clowns were just giving them out." He grinned once again. Ruby seemed to have bought it, but even if she didn't, it wouldn't be on her mind for much longer.

"We're here," Silver announced just as they passed the opened wooden gate. Ruby looked up from staring at Silver's Pokétch and gasped.

The amount of flowers in the meadow made Floaroma's entrance seem like a mere garden. The flowers stretched out all over the green grass and the small hills, and it smelled wonderful, like candy perfume. There was a short trail where one could walk through and a few trees surrounded by several combees. The flowers rustled and danced as the wind pushed them gently, giving the meadow an ocean-like appearance.

Ruby walked towards the edge of the trail, kneeling down and touching one of the thin, paper-like petals. Silver looked around and instantly saw a red flower.

"Hey, look." Ruby looked up to see Silver extending his arm at her, a red flower with small petals in his hand. "It matches your eyes, right?" She smiled softly, a blush on her cheeks.

"R-Right," she said, standing up. She was just about to take the flower when a voice rang out.

"Hey, you two!" the voice shouted at the two teens. Startled, Silver and Ruby looked down the trail and saw a short, old man waving at them.

"Uh oh, do you think he's mad?" Ruby asked, waving her hand back at him slowly.

"Would ya like some honey?" the old man asked. Silver looked over at Ruby, who simply shrugged.

"Why not? It could be our souvenir before we head off."

"We're leaving already?" Silver asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, I want to get to Eterna City before sun down. Let's go."

"Alright," Silver mumbled, stepping forward and reaching towards Ruby's face. She tensed when his hand grazed the side of her face as he placed the flower's stem behind her ear.

"There," he began, smirking. "Another souvenir for you."

* * *

_Nara: All this time... I thought it was... Floramora... Not Floaroma... What kind of person am I? T-T _

_Well anyways, I hope you guys liked this :3 ...It's 7:30 a.m. and I don't really know what to say xD Oh well..._

_Thank you for reading and reviewing guys c: Hope you enjoyed n.n!_


	10. The Maze and Mansion

They reached Route 205 quite quickly, and Eterna Forest wasn't very far from there. A few trainers asked them to battle, most of them asking the kind looking white haired girl rather than red haired boy that glared daggers at them. Ruby happily accepted, clueless to Silver's glaring and wondering why no one asked him to battle. Growlithe appreciated the work out, and the duo finished the battles quickly and continued their journey forward.

They walked down the dirt trail, the sun beating down on them as noon slowly passed. Even though the sun's rays were warm, the air was still chilly, Ruby keeping her thin jacket on. As she kept walking, she heard water running nearby. She looked around and spotted a river amongst the bushes.

"Hey look! A river!" Ruby announced, walking over to it. Silver trailed after her, looking at the water that rushed by. His eyes widened when he noticed what was nearby.

"I heard there's an abandoned factory around here," Ruby said in a hushed voice. She ran her hand over the river, water caressing her fingers in a cold embrace. She looked up at Silver. "Maybe it leads to a short cut as well."

"N-No. I don't think so. Let's get going before you fall in and get a cold," Silver replied calmly, putting Fuego Ironworks at the back of his mind and pulling Ruby onto her feet from the back of her jacket. He dragged her away from the river. She pouted.

"I wasn't going to fall in…"

"You might have… Or your Growlith- Growlithe!" Ruby gasped, rushing over to the river. The current was quickly dragging a barking Growlithe down the river. Silver quickly pulled off his jacket.

"I'll get him!" he announced. But, before he could even take a step forward, Ruby pulled off her backpack and jumped into the river. Getting to Growlithe was easy; the current was doing most of the work. Ruby wrapped her arm around Growlithe, who shivered and growled and coughed out water. She tried swimming against the current, but with Growlithe in her arm, she could hardly swim forward.

"Dammit," she hissed, reaching for her belt. "Magikarp, help us out!" The red scaled fish dove into the water, surfacing and allowing Ruby to wrap her arms around him and swim her back to Silver. Silver grabbed Growlithe and helped Ruby out of the water.

"You have a magikarp?" Silver asked, looking at the pokemon.

"Y-Yeah," Ruby replied, teeth chattering. "Th-this m-man on a b-boat was ch-challenging p-people against h-his magikarp. N-no o-one th-thought it was ch-challenging enough, s-so I ch-challenged him, hoping I'd get m-money. He g-gave me his magi-karp instead- IT'S COLD!" Ruby pulled off her jacket, her black shirt sticking to her. She grabbed her backpack. "I'll be right b-back."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm g-gonna change," she mumbled, disappearing past the trees and bushes. After she changed into another black t-shirt and jeans, she came back and saw that Growlithe was somewhat dry and Magikarp was enjoying the water. Her jacket was still a bit wet.

"Here," Silver said, offering her his jacket.

"No, I can bear it," Ruby said, pushing away his hand.

"You just jumped into an ice cold river. You could at least wear this until your jacket dries," Silver said. He offered her his jacket again, and this time Ruby accepted.

"Thanks," she said with a grateful smile. After pulling the jacket on, she returned Magikarp to his pokeball and faced Growlithe.

"Growlithe, you idiot, how'd you fall in?" Ruby scolded. Growlithe barked lowly, looking over at the river and growling.

_"That goldeen… that stupid goldeen was mocking me, saying that fire pokemon can't enjoy a swim! I can enjoy a swim!" _

"You jumped in because a goldeen mocked you? Are you stupid?" Ruby shouted, taking out his pokeball. "You're grounded mister."

_"You're not my mother!"_

"Well you obviously need someone to look after you, or else you'll end up doing something stupid like _jumping into a river_," Ruby snapped, clicking the button and sending Growlithe in via red light. Ruby exhaled, calmly walking over to her jacket. It was still wet and cold, and it might take an hour or two before she could wear it. She groaned, pulled it down from the branch she'd set it on, and folded it. She pulled out a grey long sleeved shirt and put away her jacket.

"Okay. Back to the trail," Ruby mumbled after pulling on the long sleeve and handing Silver his jacket. "We might not make it to Eterna because of this little episode."

"Maybe we will," Silver replied, the positivity in the statement shocking him a bit.

"Yeah," Ruby replied as they neared the forest's entrance. "Maybe we will."

-…-

"We're never going to get out of this damned forest!" Ruby whined, letting her knees hit the ground. The sky was already turning an orange hue, and the duo had no idea where they were. Eterna forest was filled with tall, thick trees and bushes, mossy stones and bug types everywhere. Because of all the trees and bushes, getting through the forest felt like getting through a natural maze. Many people got lost in the chilly forest, and Silver and Ruby were one of them.

"I'm really hungry," Ruby muttered. Silver looked over at the trees and snatched on of the pecha berries growing amongst the leaves. He took a large bit out of it.

"Eat a berry," he suggested. Ruby smirked.

"Don't pokemon usually eat berries?"

"They're good," Silver countered, tossing her one. Before, when he hardly had any money, berries would be all he ate. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. He had a much easier time eating the berry than Ruby, who looked at it hesitantly before taking a small bite.

"It's sweet," she announced. "Let's pick some berries and that'll be dinner if we don't find a way out of the forest!"

After ten minutes of walking around, they had a great amount of pecha and oran berries, and a few cheri and sitrus berries.

"Alright, pecha berries are sweet, cherri berries are spicy, oran berries have a bunch of flavors, and sitrus berries have a smoother taste."

"I like the cheri berries," Silver said, grabbing for the red berry.

"Nah, I like sitrus berries better," Ruby said. She was about to grab another sitrus berry when her pokeball began to shake, and in a red flash of late, Growlithe broke out.

_"Berries? None for me? I'm not liking this!"_ Growlithe barked, jumping up and down and sniffing at the berries. _"These smell great!" _Growlithe yipped, devouring a pecha berry.

"Hey, you! Stop eating everything!" Ruby shouted, pulling Growlithe away from her backpack's pocket filled with berries. By the time she had pulled him away, there were only a few sitrus and oran berries left.

_"Ahh, sweet and spicy," _Growlithe barked, grinning goofily. Ruby sighed.

"I guess we can give the rest of these to our pokemon later," she said as she zipped up her backpack and stood up.

"It's already getting really late," Silver stated, looking up at the darkening sky.

"Yeah, we should find a place to stay," Ruby replied, looking around. "But who would live in the middle of the forest?"

"I think I saw a house while looking for berries. Follow me." Ruby nodded, and she and Growlithe followed the boy down the trail and through a few bushes until a large mansion came into view. The mansion walls appeared to be old, the paint chipping and tainted, and at least one of the windows were broken.

"I don't think it'd be a good idea to stay here," Ruby mumbled, looking down the trail. "Maybe if we keep following this trial, we'll get to Eterna."

"Or we could get lost," Silver countered. When he pushed open the metal gate, it gave an eerie shriek that sent shivers down Ruby's spine and caused Growlithe to whine lowly. "Come on, it's no big deal. Or what? Are you scared?" Silver asked with a smirk. Ruby glared at him.

"I'm not," she hissed, walking past him and feeling more shivers crawl down her back. She let out a small sigh and walked up the porch stairs. She didn't think anyone lived there, but knocked on the front door anyways.

"Do you think someone's going to answer, or…?"

"It was worth a shot," she replied, pushing the door open and stepping inside. The room was dark, dusty, and had an unearthly and chilly air to it. The wooden floor creaked with each step, and there were a set of stairs on either side of the room, as well as a doorway straight ahead. Ruby had to keep repeating to herself that there was no one here, spirits or otherwise. She was just entering a house to stay the night in. She's seen scarier stuff, that's for sure.

Meanwhile, Silver didn't think anything of the house except for the dust in the air.

"Should we check to see if there's some rooms with beds?" Silver asked Ruby, who jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Uhh," she whispered lowly. "I don't want to, you know, invade anyone's privacy."

"I don't think anyone lives here, Ruby."

"Well, you know, the spirit lives on…" Silver smirked.

"Okay, if you say so," Silver replied teasingly, causing Ruby to blush and glare. As they were setting up their sleeping bags, a small beep went off and echoed around the room, causing all of them to jump. Growlithe growled lowly, walking over to Ruby and letting her pet his head softly.

"What was that?" Ruby hissed.

"I don't know," Silver muttered, looking down at the cuff around his wrist. Saturn was calling. _"Crap," _he thought. _"How am I supposed to answer?"_

He stood up, hiding his arm behind his back. "I'll… I'll go check it out. Be right back."

"Wait! Don't just leave me here!" Ruby shouted.

"Don't worry about it! You've got Growlithe!" he shouted back as he raced up the stairs and entered another room, leaving Ruby alone in the dark, ghostly room.

Silver closed the door behind him and shoved his sleeve up, the front screen of the cuff blinking red and sending another beep. Cursing under his breath, he tapped on the screen and waited for Saturn to reply. What could that madman want now? He had promised to leave him alone for the rest of the month. He pretty much always knew where Silver was, and the cuff was impossible to take off, so what was the problem?

"Silver!" Saturn greeted him, his face blinking on the screen.

"What the hell do you want?" Silver whispered.

"Watch your tone kid," Saturn said, his voice too loud for Silver's comfort. If Ruby could hear him, she might end up getting either scared or suspicious. "Anyways, I wanted to inform you that I monitored Mt. Coronet and there's some weird energy around the summit. If I find out anything else, you might end up heading over there."

"Yeah, whatever."

"I can't let this one slip out of my hands. Can't let them escape…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Silver asked angrily. Saturn shook his head.

"Nothing. Be seeing you." And with that, the monitor on his cuff shut off, leaving him fuming in the dark. Suddenly, he realized something. It was the first time he wanted to choke someone in the longest time. He hadn't felt the need to punch someone's face out since, well, he decided to escort Ruby.

That girl…

Shaking his head a bit, he walked to the door and swung it open. Right when he walked out, someone slammed into him and shrieked, pushing him back.

"Ruby, what the hell?"

"Silver? Oh crap, ah… You scared me, you idiot!" Ruby shouted, pushing him again. Silver glared, the rage Saturn fumed into him still having yet to settle down. "I heard a voice say 'out' and 'escape'! I think we should leave."

"Out and escape?" Silver mumbled, shaking his head. She must've been able to hear a bit of Saturn's talking. "I think you just need some rest."

"B-But-"

"It's fine," Silver laughed, causing Ruby to glare and pout. He patted her head, grabbing her hand and leading her down the stairs. "You're delusional."

"I-I am not!" Ruby shouted embarrassedly. The fear pounding in her heart became replaced with a light feeling she didn't know about. She pulled her hand away in response and rushed over to her sleeping bag.

"I can't believe you don't believe me," she grumbled, getting into her sleeping bag and crossing her arms.

"Fine. I believe you. But would you rather stay here or go out there in the dark forest when it's easier to get lost?"

"Actually, I'd rather go outside."

"You're crazy," Silver laughed, closing his eyes shut. Deep in his mind, he hoped that nothing was going on in Mt. Coronet, so that he wouldn't have to leave Ruby's side to do Saturn's dirty work.

* * *

_Nara: 2,000+ words for the tenth chapter of this story n.n I felt an extra push to write more when I got plenty of new favorites and follows, 1,100+ views, and one of the readers had the courtesy to visit my tumblr and sent me a review from there. I really appreciate that, thanks a lot n.n!_

_Anyways, there's obviously a new obstacle here involving Saturn. Don't think he's out of the story, he still plays a major role. I'm still not sure what to write about when they get to Eterna, but I'll see if I can come up with something new c: _

_Thanks for reading and reviewing n.n_


	11. The Mountain's Energy

"Silver," a soft voice cooed, a hand shaking his shoulder. He grimaced, the soft voice welcoming but nonetheless breaking his sleep, thus an enemy. He groaned, rolling onto his side. "Silver…"

"What the... hell…," Silver grumbled. Ruby chuckled, shaking him even more. "Nooo," he whined, voice croaking and causing Ruby to laugh even more. She felt bad for having to wake up Silver. He looked so peaceful, with his face relaxed and his long, red hair covering most of his face. He had peeled off his jacket and was only wearing his black undershirt, showing off strong arms and that bothersome metal cuff. Something tugged at Ruby's stomach, causing her face to flush. Was it that he looked so strikingly familiar to the mewtwo boy? Or was it just that he looked so striking in general?

She shoved that thought away and punched his arm, causing him to sit up and glare at her.

"I'm trying to sleep," he snapped, and quite angrily at that. Ruby's eyes went wide, and Silver's followed suit.

"Didn't know you weren't a morning person," Ruby laughed, messing up his red hair. "Get up. I checked to see if the trail led to Eterna City and it does."

"A-Alright," Silver said. He grabbed for his jacket, pulled it on and stood up, a yawn bubbling in his throat. He watched Ruby walk towards the mansion's door, pulling it open to letting the morning light flood inside, causing his eyes to ache. He followed her, glad that that went smoothly. Usually, when he snapped at someone, they looked at him with fear, but Ruby simply shrugged it off as morning rage. He should be glad he was calmer around her. If he snapped at her every twelve seconds like he usually did with others, she probably wouldn't want to be around him either.

"Did you sleep at all?" Silver asked. Ruby looked back at him with a huge grin.

"Nope!" she exclaimed, and Silver noticed the light darkness under her eyes that indicated the lack of last night's sleep. "I'm not that sleepy anyways. I'm used to not getting a night's sleep."

"How come?" Silver asked. Ruby grimaced.

"Uh, I'm just a night owl sometimes," Ruby replied quickly, smiling softly. "That's it…"

But Silver knew a lie when he heard it. He'd told enough.

-…-

They made their way to a Pokemon Center, where they showered, healed and fed their pokemon, and ate a good breakfast. After that, they headed in the direction of Mt. Coronet.

"Hey!" a boy shouted. Ruby looked his way.

"Uhm, hi," she replied with a welcoming smile. She looked back at the sidewalk they had been walking on and saw that Silver had kept going, Growlithe padding at his side. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to ask if you were interested in buying a bike!"

"No thanks," she replied. "But thanks for the offer."

"Come on, girl! You'd look great riding a bike," the boy said, a wide smile on his face as he inched closer. Too close for Ruby's comfort. Her smile had been reduced to a nervous one as she stepped back slowly.

"It s-sounds great, but I really don't have the money-"

"Well then I'll give you a great deal! Even give you thirty percent off, just for you."

"I _really_ need to get goin-"

"Come on, don't leave me empty handed here."

"I'm s-sorry, I just have to go…"

"Just buy a bike and I'll leave you alo-"

"She said she's not interested." Silver stepped in between them, glaring at the pesky advertiser. The boy gave a sheepish, yet intimidating smile, putting his hands up and inching away.

"Sorry bro. I'll back off…" With that, the boy sped off, Growlithe barking at him.

_"Yeah, I showed him, didn't I?! No one annoys my Ruby without getting a bark from me!" _Growlithe barked.

"Thanks, Silver. That guy was getting a little annoying," Ruby sighed and kept walking.

"No problem. You didn't exactly look comfortable. I had to help out, I guess."

"Well, thank you," Ruby smiled. Growlithed growled lowly.

_"No one appreciates a good guard dog these days," _he whined, walking ahead of them. They walked in silence for a while, until they came to Palkia and Diagla's statues. Ruby looked up at them in awe, feeling a sudden wave of strength.

"I've wanted to see these for a while," she said, looking over at the trail ahead. It soon lead to a bridge, and from there they would get to the entrance of Mt. Coronet. Deciding she had the time, she walked over to the statue of Palkia, looking at its worn out stone. She touched the statue. It felt cold to the touch, dirt sticking to her fingers.

"I don't know why they don't appreciate these statues. They're stunning," she mumbled lowly, walking to the front of the statue. There was a plate right under the statue, with engraved lettering that seemed to have faded away, making it practically illegible. She walked over to the statue of Diagla, and it too had illegible engraving on the plate.

"Looks like the writing on the plate is too faded to read," Ruby announced, straightening up and crossing her arms. "A shame."

"Let me see," Silver said, walking over to her. He kneeled down and took a look at the plate. Ruby was right, the writing was unable to be read. He ran a finger over the plate. A low wave of energy ran over his body, but left him with a huge headache. He blinked his eyes a couple times, shaking his head slowly.

"You okay?" Ruby asked, setting a hand on his shoulder. He blinked his eyes wide open, staring at the plate. Suddenly, he could read it.

_"The creation of DIALGA. The giver of time… In laughter, there is tears… And, likewise it is with time. The same time flows on. For it is the blessing of DIALGA."_

"I… I'm fine," Silver finally replied, standing up. "Just got a random headache," he mumbled, staring up at the statue. It suddenly didn't look that old anymore, and looked a lot more… realistic. He looked over at Mt. Coronet, how it stretched up for miles. He suddenly remembered his conversation with Saturn, and how he had said that there was some weird energy up in Mt. Coronet. Could _they_ be there? He felt like morphing into his Mewtwo form and zapping to the peak of Mt. Coronet, just to prove his suspicions right or wrong, but to leave Ruby's side felt like putting a huge weight on his shoulders and leaving his chest with a gaping hole. He sighed, hoping the headache would subside.

"… We could go back to the Pokemon Center, if you'd like," Ruby said, looking at Silver's foggy eyes.

"Huh? No! Let's keep going. We… Don't want to keep your friend waiting, you know…"

"Sure…" Ruby mumbled, walking forward slowly. She pulled off her backpack, pulling out a sitrus berry and handing it to Silver. "Munch on that. Maybe it'll help you feel better," she said. Silver gave her a look of detest, but she gave him a smile that tried hard to hide the worried look in her eyes. The look tightened a knot in his stomach.

"Thanks," he said. He took the sitrus berry and took a huge bite out of it, simply to humor her. They made their way towards the bridge, and before they took a step on the bridge, Ruby shot her hand down and grabbed Silver's.

"What are you doing?!" Silver exclaimed.

"Look, you felt sick so I don't want you stumbling while we cross the bridge and falling down! It's a long way down and you could get hurt," Ruby quickly exclaimed, pulling him forward and ignoring the heat on her cheeks. Silver tried hard to do the same, shuffling his feet to keep up with her.

"I'm going to end up falling _because_ of you."

"Sorry!" she squeaked, slowing down and leading him down the bridge again. Growlithe watched this all with a huge smirk on his face, even if he did find it pathetic. He raced past them, getting to the end of the bridge in a matter of seconds. He gave Ruby a knowing smirk. Ruby glared back at him, mouthing at him to 'shut up.'

_"I'm not saying a word," _Growlithe replied teasingly. When they stepped off of the bridge, Ruby let go of Silver's hand and looked into the cavern.

"Scared?" Silver asked.

"No… it's just, I don't really know my way around. So I don't know where we'll wind up…"

"I know the way around, a bit," Silver said, walking in first. Growlithe followed, and Ruby hesitated but made her way inside as well. The area was a bit dark, but she could still make out Silver and Growlithe. It felt humid, their footsteps echoed, and in the distance she heard the screech of a zubat.

"I don't like it in here," she whispered.

_"Scaredy meowth," _Growlithe chuckled.

"I'm not scared," she hissed back. Silver laughed.

"You can understand your Growlithe really well," Silver said. He wanted to see if she'd take the bait. If she'd tell him what she is. How things would turn out…

"Y-yeah, well… He was my first pokemon. I've had him since forever, so I can understand him pretty well," Ruby replied. She mentally sighed. It sounded believable, didn't it? She did bargain in her head whether to tell him that she's part pokemon or not, but she decided on the latter. He'd probably treat her coldly, and shun her right away.

She really didn't want to lose the only friend she had.

Silver responded with a simple, 'hmm' as they kept walking. Another screech echoed in the distance, scaring the daylights out of Ruby and causing her to gasp and almost choke. Silver felt like laughing, but that wasn't the _nicest_ thing to do, so he grabbed her hand and mumbled, "Calm down."

"I… I'm calm," Ruby replied softly, gripping his hand tighter and walking forward. She sighed to herself, glaring at Growlithe when he made a light gagging noise. Meanwhile, Silver's head was still throbbing, and his senses were overwhelmed. He could feel the thickness in the air, and could even see the amount of energy swirling in the air. The deeper into the mountain they got, the thicker with enery the air got, and the more his head throbbed. He couldn't take the energy waves in his normal form; if he could turn into his mewtwo form, he'd be able to withstand it, and even use it to his own benefit. But now, it was simply harming him, making his head feel heavy, and his skin feeling as if it was being pierced.

But he kept dragging his feet forward.

Why didn't this affect her? Was it because she couldn't morph into her pokemon form when he could? That would be his best bet. They kept walking forward for a good thirty minutes, Silver leading the way, feeling worse by the second. They entered a cavern that was greatly foggy, and he knew that nearby was a lake that she or Growlithe could fall into, so he steered them away from there. His footsteps started to feel heavier, but he was already feeling grateful. The next cavern was two paths, one leading upwards, and the other leading to Route 216. He'd get out of the mountain, his head would clear up, and they could continue on normally.

The task proved difficult. The pressure from his headache kept increasing which each step he took, until he felt like he was breathing in oil. He couldn't feel Ruby's grip on her hand, couldn't feel the steps he took, and couldn't hear Ruby shouting his name when he'd fallen on his back.


	12. Who is the Murderer?

The sound he made when he hit the floor was horrible to her ears. She felt like someone had grabbed her heart and gripped it hard, all the while punching her in the stomach. She almost screamed, but the tightness in her throat didn't allow it. The fog around her didn't help her concentrate with the problem at hand, and to solve the problem she called out her Chimecho and ordered her to use Defog. When the fog cleared away, she could make out Silver's sweaty, strained face, eyes shut tight with discomfort. She kneeled down next to him, cursing at herself for not having noticed his discomfort. Ruby pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. He was burning up.

"O-Oh no," she whispered nervously, pulling out one of her shirts and a water bottle from her backpack. "Oh no, oh no," she repeated lowly, and kept repeating the phrase as she soaked the folded shirt with cool water. She pushed back red strands of hair and placed the shirt on his forehead.

Then she stared.

"I… I don't know what else to do!"

_"Well at least you're calm," _Growlithe mused, padding over to the unconscious Silver. He sniffed the air, then stepped back quickly. He _reeked. _He reeked of something thick with energy, strong energy like the one from when he'd first found him, except stronger. The dog grimaced, almost choking with the scent, and walked back a few more steps.

"What's wrong? Do you know what's wrong with him?"

_"I don't…," _he lied. _"Look, why don't you go outside and look for help? There has to be a few houses on Route 216. Someone can help us."_

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking around. The mountain was empty, and the area they were in was quite big and she couldn't see any pokemon, but she didn't like the idea of Growlithe alone. He was strong and smart, but his lack of attention span got in the way of both of those qualities.

_"Yes. Just go find someone, and I'll take care of Silver."_

"Alright," Ruby said, nodding. "You can take care of yourself, yes…," she mumbled, trying to reassure more herself than Growlithe. But the worrying stayed in the back of her head, so she reached for a pokeball and brought out her Persian. "You two can keep each other company."

"What? No!" the dog growled, glaring at the cat that only gave him a sly grin.

"My two strongest Pokemon taking care of Silver will keep me from worrying, okay? So behave yourselves!" With that, she ran out of the mountain, and stumbled into a pile of fresh, cold snow.

-…-

Once Ruby had left, Growlithe sent a glare Persian's way, a growl rumbling in his throat. _"Great,"_ he groaned. _"Please leave me alone."_

_"But you're so fun to play with," _she purred, smiling devilishly.

_"Hmf. She only sent you out because you're second best," _Growlithe snapped. The smile disappeared from Persian, and she instead glared.

_"She sent me out because you need babysitting, _puppy_."_

_"I can evolve whenever I want to!"_

_"Then do it."_

_"I don't want to!" _he snarled. _"Look, we should be taking care of this kid instead of bickering."_

_"He reeks," _Persian snapped, sniffing the boy's way. The musk was something strong and intoxicating. Her eyes widened in a sudden realization. "_He's not just human, is he?" _

_"Neither is Ruby…"_

_"Yes, but this boy is different," _she established, inching closer. _"He isn't safe."_

_"Leave him alone!" _Growlithe growled, standing before her and blocking her way.

_"You want this guy around her?" _she asked menacingly. He flinched.

_"He's not dangerous. He might seem it, but he's not. He's nice around Ruby, and she cares about him enough to run out into a route that has snowstorms almost every day only to find someone to aid him. Doesn't that tell you anything?"_

_"Have you told her?" _she asked, ignoring all that he had said.

_"Well, no…"_

_"You better," _she hissed, padding away from the teen. _"Or I'll do something."_

_"Witch," _Growlithe snapped, spitting a few embers her way. He peered back at Silver, who still had a look of pain written on his face.

He had looked shady at first, but Growlithe felt he wouldn't hurt Ruby in any way… hopefully.

-…-

Cold attacked her body, straight through the thin fabric of her jacket. Certain parts of her body felt numb, like her nose, cheeks, lips, toes and fingers, but despite that, she kept running forward. She panted and squinted, trying to see anything that didn't look like blank, white snow. There had to be someone out there that could help her and Silver.

At that thought, she saw a small light emanating from a window. Excitement warmed her body, even for a few seconds, and she sped forward, snow crawling into her shoes and her jacket's neck even more. Her skin began to sting from the cold, but she didn't care. Finally, she'd found someone.

She was close enough to the house to fall forward and still be able to reach out and knock on the door. As she was picking herself up, someone opened the door, warm air clashing with the cold for a few moments.

"H-Hi," she breathed out a white puff, smiling. The young man, seeming to be in his twenties, stared at her with wide eyes before finally responding.

"Oh my god are you okay?!" he shouted, helping her inside.

"F-Fine, th-thanks."

"Are you kidding me?! Your eyelashes have snow frozen to them!" he exclaimed, rushing over to his couch and grabbing a blanket. He wrapped it around her, and then made his way to the stove. "You need so much hot chocolate-"

"I'm fine, really, b-but my friend isn't! He's passed out close to the entrance at Mt. Coronet, and I left him with my pokemon so I could come look for someone to help him. Can you help him?"

"Of course I can," he mumbled. "Mr. Mime, make some hot chocolate for this girl, please!" The pokemon waltzed in and greeted them before walking over to the small fridge and pulling out the ingredients he needed.

"I'll go get your friend. My name's Adam, by the way."

"Thank you so much, Adam," Ruby sighed in relief, bowing her head at him.

"It's cool, you just stay here and cool down- I mean, warm up." After pulling on his jacket, he rushed out, a bit of cold seeping in before the door slammed shut.

_"Marshmellows?"_

"Please," she said, slowly walking over to the small couch.

-…-

Adam came back with Silver in his arms half an hour later, Growlithe and Persian bounding in and taking in the warm air. Ruby quickly stood up and looked at Silver with worry. He looked a bit better, but was still unconscious, and now his face was rosy from the cold air. Adam set him down on the couch and Ruby sacrificed the five blankets she had been curled up in for Silver. She watched him for a few seconds, then turned to Adam.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" Ruby asked. Adam shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but it's late. Both of you need rest, your pokemon too." At that, Growlithe and Persian let out a yawn each. Ruby nodded understandingly.

"I'll sleep on the floor, then," Ruby said, grabbing a few pillows Mr. Mime had brought. He soon walked in with two more blankets. Ruby took them with a grateful smile, and when she curled up on the floor and the lights dulled down, her two pokemon rushed up to her and curled up under the blankets. She was about to complain, but a yawn overtook her. She was very tired, and the sudden warmth wasn't helping. The second she closed her eyes, she drifted off to sleep.

Silver woke up half an hour later to a sudden buzz on vibrate against his wrist. He shot his eyes open. Saturn.

He paid no attention to the fact that he was suddenly in someone's living room and rushed outside, shivering against the cold. He walked to the side of the house, then decided to answer the call.

"What do you want at this time of night," Silver hissed angrily. He didn't even have time to appreciate how clear his head felt with Saturn calling him probably only to piss him off. That only intensified his glare.

"There's something up in the mountain. You've got to go get it."

"You're crazy. Bye."

"Or you can get shocked to death. Your choice."

"Look, I can go tomorrow or something," Silver snapped, this time with a little restraint. He knew there was no winning a fight with someone controlling his life. Someone who craved power and revenge.

"No, Silver, go _now_," Saturn commanded, eyes enraged. "They could leave by tomorrow. I don't want this kind of power to slip away from me."

"Then go get it," Silver growled. Saturn glared.

"That's your job. And remember the task you have to complete soon."

"Yeah, kill Gary Oak. _Leave me alone now._"

"Go to Mt. Coronet. If I don't see that you're there in the next five minutes, you're in big trouble." With that, the screen on Silver's cuff blinked off, and Silver could let out both a sigh of relief, and then a groan of displeasure.

"Silver." Silver's eyes widened and he whipped around to see Ruby staring at her with wide eyes, Growlithe in her arms. "You…"

"R-Ruby, it's not what you think it is!"

"You're the murderer," she whispered lowly.

"It's cold, we should go insi-"

"No!" she screamed, stepping back and glaring through her tears. "You're the murderer! And you're going to kill Gary! How could you?"

"Please, Ruby, just let me-"

"Shut up! You can't explain anything, okay?! What, were you going to kill me afterwards?"

"Of course not!"

"Don't lie to me! You've been lying to me this whole time, right? That being nice thing was just a little act to fool around, huh?"

"Ruby, let me fucking talk!" Silver shouted, stomping his foot forward. The snow around him had melted away from how much angry energy he was releasing. Ruby stared with wide eyes, at the rage in his eyes, at the melting snow, and at the purple energy swirling around his body. His eyes were even beginning to glow a dull blue.

She turned around and ran, Growlithe barking and barking. She couldn't make out what he was saying, or what Silver was saying, or really where she was going, but she hoped to get to Snowpoint City soon, and she hoped the boat docked late as well. She looked back, seeing the purple energy suddenly dull away and disappear.

"He's a killer," she hissed under her breath, blinking rapidly. "He's a killer and I never trusted him!"

_"Don't lie," _Growlithe barked. _"You're only going to make it tougher on yourself."_

"I-I…" Ruby had nothing else to say. She didn't know what to do, where she was going, or what was going on anymore. She stopped running and suddenly dropped to her knees, letting the tears stream down her cheeks.

"I just want to curl up right here and sleep," she cried, clawing into the snow. "I don't want to- I don't wan't-"

_"Ruby!" _Growlithe barked, nipping at her backpack. _"Where's the fire stone?"_

"Wh-what?"

_"I'm gonna evolve and I'm going to carry you there. You can't be in the cold much longer, you were already outside enough."_

"When I was looking for someone to help the murderer," she cried out, pushing away the tears in her eyes. Growlithe sighed, opening the small pocket and pulling out an orange stone. He breathed in, knowing what was going to happen next.

He was prepared. He had to be. Ruby was the strongest person he knew, and she was suddenly weak. This was the emergency he'd been saving up for.

* * *

_Nara: Wow, school has really worn me down x_x it's 12:30 and I could cry right now on how tired I am. Ugh._

_Anyways, things are picking up now n.n What's going on? What _will _be going on soon? And will Nara adjust to her sleeping schedule soon?_

_The last one is hopefully a yes._

_Thank you very much for reading n_n Please review, and to the reviewer that mentioned Ruby having a bike, I think I might just do that xD_


	13. When They Reunite

Silver took in a deep breath, and exhaled a white puff of cold air. He counted in his head, from ten to zero, but he didn't even make it to eight when his head started fogging up with pure rage and frustration. Back in Mt. Coronet, he thought he was going to blow it, and him being a pokemon would be revealed to her. He'd have to explain himself, hopefully the subject of how he'd gone around killing people going untouched. Luckily, he didn't change into Mewtwo back there, but still, it all caught up to him in the end. Saturn blew it for him.

_Silver blew it. _

His temper was boiling nonstop, and he had to release it, but all there was around him was snow that he was melting and a house he didn't want to completely destroy. Huffing, he turned around and raced forward, making his way back to Mt. Coronet. He entered the cavern and kept running until he clashed his fist against the rock wall. Pokemon shrieked in surprise, scurrying away from the boy roaring with angry energy. Silver pulled his fist away from the wall, pain throbbing at his knuckles, but he kept going. He kept punching the wall, leaving crumbling holes on the rock and leaving his fists red. He couldn't even feel the pain. All he saw was fury.

His knuckles were throbbing and red with pain and blood by the time he had calmed down. Only then had he realized how horribly he'd harmed himself. He sighed in frustration, walking over to the lake. He kneeled down, examining his hands. His fingers were trembling a bit, and his knuckles were still bleeding and throbbing. He dipped his hands into the water, the pain slowly starting to sink in as the anger began to drain out. At least now he had a bit of sense in his head.

He looked over at the exit leading to Route 216. Ruby was probably running down the Route, trying to escape him. Running in fear of him. He wanted so badly to somehow catch up to her, explain everything if she'd listen. Maybe she would understand, and if she didn't, well, he didn't blame her either. He just wanted her to hear him out; he wanted to speak to her.

He wanted to kiss her badly.

His eyes swept over to the entrance he'd have to take in order to get to the top of Mt. Coronet. Saturn's orders pressed down on him, heavy restraints that wouldn't allow him to catch up with Ruby. By the time he'd make it to the peak, she'd probably be on her way to Kanto, out of his reach until he could get his energy back. Even then, he might not be able to because of the metal around his wrist that kept him near Saturn.

Silver didn't want to move from his spot, but he sucked it up and stood up, shaking his hands dry and walking towards the entrance. A few zubat's in the distance shrieked as he entered the next cavern. His frown deepened.

Things would never go his way, would they?

-…-

Ruby already knew that the ship ride to Cerulean would be something close to hell for her. A machine that floated over water and could easily sink, thus killing everyone onboard if one weren't to act quick enough. That didn't sound spectacular to her. The way the boat rocked did not feel soothing to her.

The whole thing was uncomfortable.

Not to mention the fact that Silver had been on her mind most of the time.

_He was the murder the whole time. He traveled with me holding this huge secret over his head. I traveled with a murder. I held a murderer's bloody hand. _

Also, the Mewtwo boy wandered in her head. Silver _was_ the Mewtwo boy, wasn't he? The red hair, those golden eyes, the fact that he was part Mewtwo. If that were the truth, wouldn't he have recognized her? Maybe he did, meaning he kept that to himself as well.

Everything sent her on a rollercoaster ride of confusion, complete with the stomach aches and the fear of throwing up.

Growli- Arcanine tried to comfort her, but being her size if he stood on his hind legs, and weighing much more than her, it was something to get used to as well. The two took up almost the entire bed, and Arcanine liked to roll around in his sleep. But Ruby didn't regret him evolving. When he had decided to evolve, she had been numb with cold, crying and a total mess, and he had been calm enough to take charge. She knew that he loved being the small size he was, but he had evolved anyways and carried her on his back all the way to Snowpoint City, through the falling snow and the ice cold wind.

"Thanks a lot for that," Ruby said all of a sudden, staring up at the ceiling of the room she was staying in. Arcanine lifted his head from his paws, looking over at him.

"_Thanks for what?_" he asked, tilting his head. Ruby smiled at that.

"For carrying me when I couldn't keep going forward." Arcanine gave her a doggy grin.

"_It's what I'm here for_," he replied, causing Ruby to grin. She went back to staring at the creamy white ceiling, counting her breathes, ignoring the subtle rocking of the ship. It seemed like she was the only one who noticed it. Arcanine was a fire type, and he was doing just fine on the big ship that carried them over the ocean.

"_And I know that everything's been… weird for you_," Arcanine muttered, placing his large paws on the bed. He pulled himself up onto the bed and lay down next to her, placing his snout on the crook of her neck. She closed her eyes and sighed, wrapping her arm around his furry neck.

"It has been," she mumbled.

"_Persian had warned me about him, but… I really thought he was a nice guy_."

"I thought so too," Ruby replied. "But… well, he kills people. Not very nice, right?"

"_Guess not…_"

"Do you think, now that I know that he's the murderer, he'll stop killing people?"

"_You haven't had a vision yet?_"

"Nope."

"_Who knows,_" Arcanine replied, and the room stayed silent. After a few beats of quiet, a knock rang out, followed by a feminine voice announcing the ship had docked.

"Let's go," Ruby breathed out, grabbing her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. Arcanine followed her down the hallway and out of the ship.

Ruby always liked Cerulean City. The gym was spectacular, and the people were so nice, and the noodles they sold. The _noodles._ But, she didn't have time to get familiar with her favorite city. She was now in the Kanto region, and Viridian City wasn't that far away. Gary was there. She could get to him before the sun set.

"_You want to get there quick, don't you?_" Arcanine asked. Ruby put on a serious face, nodding. "_Well, hop on._"

With that said, Ruby climbed onto Arcanine's back and grabbed onto his collar as he sped forward, passing people that gave him impressed looks. He smirked. When he was Growlithe, he was a cute, little puppy. Now he's strong and fierce.

Ruby watched with slightly squinted eyes as they passed people quickly, soon near the route that would take them to Viridian City. She'd find Gary, tell him about the dangers he was in, and make sure not a finger would lay on him.

Her eyes caught a white labcoat, something in her head snapping. "Stop!" she shouted, Arcanine skidding to a stop immediately. She turned around and saw the familiar face of Prof. Oak. A huge grin spread across her lips.

"Granpa!" she shouted, hopping off of Arcanine and rushing towards him. He certainly did look a bit older, more wrinkles and a few bags under his eyes. He looked up at her with a confused look, but his eyes showed that he somehow recognized her; her voice, maybe.

"Remember me? I'm Ruby!" A smile spread across his lips.

"Ruby! Where have you been? I don't remember you coming back home. How was your journey?" Ruby raised an eyebrow. Ah, that was right, when she came back to her parents' house, she was locked in there, not much contact to the outside world because of how freakish she was; how much of a nuisance to her parents she had been.

"Well, I kind of moved to Sinnoh afterwards."

"Really? Wow. And is that the starter pokemon you got there?"

"Yeah," she lied with a smile, petting Arcanine's head. "Quite the charmer, isn't he?" Arcanine barked at that, giving the professor a doggy grin. Ruby side glanced nervously. Not many people were around.

"Listen," she mumbled. "I know about the cases… the deaths. I was kinda near one recently."

"Ah, yes. The murders. Were you close to Dawn?"

"Sort of," she muttered. "I want to talk to Gary. Is he doing alright?" His face instantly shadowed with something she couldn't describe, but it sent a shiver down her spine.

"No, he's not, actually," Prof. Oak replied lowly, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a silver key, handing it to her. "He won't open his door for anyone, so use this. Hopefully he recognizes you as quickly as I did."

"W-What's wrong with him?" Ruby asked. Was he suspecting that he was next for dead? Prof. Oak shook his head.

"It just… hit him hard." Ruby nodded at that, seeing how badly Prof. Oak felt about his grandson; if Gary was feeling depressed, it even showed in his grandfather. Ruby bowed her head, muttering a thank you.

"I hope to see you soon!" Prof. Oak called out as she rode off towards Viridian City.

-…-

As she had suspected, when she twisted the door knob to the front door after having knocked for two minutes, it didn't budge. She knocked a couple more times, hoping she wouldn't have to technically break into the house, but still, she received no answer. Ruby inhaled slowly, taking out the key from her pocket. She slipped the key into the keyhole, twisted, and flung the door open, entering with caution.

The living room was completely empty, except for a few bowls and garments flung carelessly on the floor. The house wasn't, say, run down, but it felt lonely to Ruby. She felt like she should call out for him, see if he'd come out of his room or where ever he was, but her voice caught in her throat. Instead, she walked forward slowly, Arcanine sniffing around in search of his scent.

"_I think… I think he's over here_," Arcanine said, walking forward to the very last room with a blue door. Ruby took her time, walking as slowly as she could, Arcanine giving her an exasperated look.

"I'm nervous," she mumbled, coming face to face with the blue door. Maybe she should knock? But she couldn't bring herself to. She'd rather face this head on. And so, she grabbed the doorknob tightly until her knuckles turned white, and stayed frozen before the door. Arcanine nudged her back with his snout until she finally twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

His bedroom was the same as the living room. His bed was messy and unmade, the pillows having fallen off, and there was more clothes thrown here and there in the room than in the living room. And yet, he wasn't there.

"_He's in here_," Arcanine barked, pointing his nose at a closed white door. Ruby walked over to white door, heart racing. Would he recognize her? Of course he wouldn't; he remembered her as Ruby with brown hair and eyes, if he remembered her at all. But Prof. Oak recognized her almost immediately. Would it go the same with Gary, or would he think of her as some stranger that broke into his house?

_Only one way to find out. _

When she twisted the doorknob, there was no resistance, meaning that the door was luckily unlocked. Throwing all her doubts behind her, she opened the door and stepped onto the white tiled floor. She closed the door slowly and looked to her left. Just a sink and a cabinet. She looked to her right. Sitting in the bathtub was Gary, a blade to his wrist.

A scream bubbled in her throat, threatening to come out, but instead, she whispered, "Don't."

His eyes, rimmed with dark circles, shot up at her. He hadn't even noticed the girl come in; his thoughts had been tormenting him too much the whole day. He stared at the white-haired girl, who only stared back, lips thinned with disappointment. He'd seen her before. He'd seen her somewhere. No, he _knew _her.

"R-Ruby?" Gary's voice croaked. He squinted his eyes at her, standing up slowly, dropping the blade and ignoring the stinging of his wrist. The girl stayed still, eyes widening at the sound of her name. He stepped out of the bathtub, still looking at her, kept taking a few steps forward until they were only inches from each other.

"It's you, isn't it, Ruby," he whispered, cupping her cheek in his hand. He heard her breathe in at the touch of his hand. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, bringing her into a tight hug. "Arceus, I've missed you so much, Ruby," he mumbled into her shoulder. He swore he was hugging her tight enough to squeeze the life out of her, but he couldn't get his arms to loosen up.

"Y-You remember me?" Ruby asked, her voice muffled against Gary's shoulder. Gary smiled widely, letting go of her and grabbing her shoulders.

"Of course I remember you, Ruby!" he exclaimed, beaming. The way her name rolled on his tongue was something he liked. Gary could sing her name all day. He looked into her red eyes. They were brown before, weren't they? He'd have to ask her when she got contacts. "And of course I missed you," he mumbled, running his thumb over the edge of her collarbone.

"I…"

"Gary, I-"

"I love you."

* * *

_Nara: *apologizes for how long it took, blames school for it all, rants about how heavy the useless mini laptops are, teases about the cliffhanger she left*_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter c: Again, sorry for how long this took to write. Getting used to school has proved difficult. Anyways, thank you for reading and please tell me what you think c:_

_Thanks~_


	14. Strings

All she could do was stare as the words swam in her head.

_I love you._

They echoed softly, over and over again.

Did he really? Or was he just so glad to see her again that the words suddenly slipped out? And even if he did feel that way, would the feelings remain once she told him that she was part pokemon? Or would they disappear, replaced with an urge to get away from her? The thought of that scared her, but she knew she had to tell him. She wouldn't keep something like that from someone she had known for so long.

"You don't know what you're saying," she finally spat out. He blinked and watched her look down nervously.

"Of course I know what I'm talking about, Ruby…," he mumbled as she searched through the cabinet nearby, fishing out a pack of bandages.

"Let's… let's cover up those cuts," Ruby said. She took his hand and led him to his disheveled bed. Gary sat down and Ruby stood before him, pulling out a few beige bandages. From a corner of the room, Arcanine watched with interest.

"You don't think I love you?" Ruby stayed silent, placing the bandages over the red cuts carefully. She kept herself distracted and thought about how a roll of bandages might have been better to treat his wrist, even if the cuts didn't look very deep. She kept her mind busy, and away from the question Gary asked. Gary sighed, seeing that Ruby was still the awkward little girl she always was. He looked up at his ceiling, ready to confess what his ten year old self never could.

"I've loved you ever since we were kids. And when we were kids, I really didn't know how to handle that. I just knew that I liked being around you, but I didn't like the teasing I would get if I ever let anyone know. Whenever I felt like that, insecure and confused, I would just tease you. And you hated that, I know." He smiled at the sight of Ruby's grin. "I teased you about everything. How you were afraid of the dark, how you always tripped over your own two legs, or how you never liked doing the things the other girls did. But when I caught you wearing that dress, wow, I didn't let you live that one down." Ruby laughed, and Gary smiled brighter.

"But I teased a lot of people. I picked fights all the time. The only thing that was different was that if Ash fell, I'd laugh. If you fell, I'd laugh too, but I'd pick you up and get you to Granpa, and he'd give me a bandage to put on your skinned knee. And if you ever cried, I'd give you a kiss and you'd stop crying at least for a little while."

"You were quite the charmer."

"I was, wasn't I?" Gary replied with a cheeky smirk. "I just… really liked you. You helped me out with anything I had to do with Granpa, saying that you simply liked helping the pokemon. Or if Ash and I ever got in a disagreement, you'd be able to calm both of us down." He paused, looking at her red eyes. "Do you remember the time we wandered away from Pallet Town and walked down the path past the hill?"

"Heck yes I do. And I remember you racing forward to catch a rattata, but instead of catching it, you tripped and fell into the river nearby." Ruby let out a hoot of laughter, then narrowed her eyes at him. "And then you pulled me in!"

"You were laughing at me!" Gary countered, only to have Ruby laugh. "You were really mad at me, but I gave you a kiss on the cheek and you got over it. Only after you pushed me down, that is." Ruby smiled, a blush on her cheek.

"Yeah… I remember that." Gary grabbed her hand and sat her down next to him. He didn't let go of her hand, but instead twined his fingers with hers. Ruby could feel the heat over her cheeks as she averted her eyes nervously.

"Then, we fell asleep and got home late with colds. Ash was so angry at us because we didn't take him with us." The thought of the three of them, ten years old and toothy grins on their faces, warmed Gary's heart. He remembered the day he got his first pokemon and his smile faltered a bit. "You were my first heartbreak, too."

"I was? What, why?" she asked. She didn't recall doing anything crueler than pushing him into the river, or taking Ash's side when they had petty fights. How could she have broken his heart?

"I waited in front of Grandad's lab for hours. I had woken up early and everything. Ash didn't show up until after I got my pokemon. But you, you never showed up. And when you told me you couldn't travel with me because your parents would let you even get a pokemon, I was furious."

"I remember you stormed off, yes."

"Yeah. I left and I told myself that having those cheerleaders following me around would be better than having you annoy me. But of course, ten cheerleaders couldn't replace you, Ruby. I'd win battles and they'd chant for me, but what I really wanted was to see you smiling at me." He suddenly fell back against his bed, pulling Ruby's arm so that she would lie down next to him. She did so, squirming a bit to get comfortable.

"After the Pokemon League, I came back to Pallet to see you again. But I got to your house and you weren't there. Everyone told me you moved away, and I was so angry that you moved without telling me. And then I just felt sad, and I couldn't leave my house for days knowing that I wouldn't get another chance to speak to you… Why did you get up and leave without at least leaving some sort of note?"

Ruby sighed. "I didn't just get up and decide to leave. I had to leave."

"Why?" There. She was going to tell him. She was going to tell him everything. From the day she was kidnapped, to the day she left Pallet. She would tell him about her dreams, about how she saw him die, and she would let it sink in. He wouldn't believe her, or would he? She didn't know, but she wasn't going to turn back. She had to tell him.

"It's a long story, so are you ready?" She turned her head to him, and he nodded, studying her face with interest. She quickly looked away, turning back to stare at the blue ceiling. She took in a shaky breathe.

"After you left, I was really lonely and walked back and forth from my house to the place we used to hang out and back. One day, I ran into this guy. He looked like some kind of professor, but he wasn't one at all. He was crazy and demented and I was his test subject."

"Test subject?" Ruby nodded.

"He kidnapped me, taking me to his run down lab to experiment on me. When I say this guy was crazy, I mean it. He had no fucking mercy on me. He locked me in this glass tube and I cried for hours, until he got sick of it and zapped me into unconsciousness. He liked to use electrocution to shut me up. If he didn't like my tone of voice, a touch of a button and my lips were sealed."

"Arceus," Gary hissed under his breath. She could tell he was seething with rage, just by the way he gripped her hand.

"One day, he knocked me unconscious and when I woke up I was different. My hair wasn't brown, it was like this. And my eyes weren't brown, either. They were red, like they are now. He brought up a pokemon to me and I could talk to him and understand him perfectly. He had merged my DNA with that of an absol."

"Asshole," Gary growled.

"I know. I wanted badly to just break out of that tube and push him in it, see if he liked it. Well, I escaped after someone else who was experimented as well broke us free. And when my parents saw me, they didn't recognize me at first. I don't know if they knew what had happened to me or not, but they just couldn't deal with me being different or having disappeared or something. Whatever it was, it tore them apart, until my dad left us and my mom killed herself. The worst part is that I saw my mom kill herself."

"You couldn't stop her?" She shook her head.

"No, because I wasn't there, technically. See, another perk of being part absol was that I had these weird dreams were I saw someone die. I didn't matter if I knew them or not, I'd watch them take their last breathe, and I'd hear their last thoughts. Sometimes, I felt what they went through, whether they swallowed ten too many pills or froze to death. I'd wake up out of breath and sweaty and crying. Once I woke up, they were dead or they were about to die. I dreamt of my mother killing herself, sitting in her bath tub and swallowing down a bunch of pills. When I woke up, she was already dead."

"That's… I'm sorry," Gary mumbled. He wondered how she felt when she had found him, about to kill himself in his bath tub.

"So am I," Ruby sighed, closing her eyes. "After she… did that, I ran away and moved to Sinnoh, and I've been living there ever since. On my own and isolated so that no one would have to be involved with my crazy freakiness. And slowly, the dreams started to stop. But then, I had a dream about Misty."

"You saw her get murdered," Gary cut in, a lump in his throat. He noticed how eerily silent it was when neither of them was talking. All he heard was the low hum of the heater turning on.

"Yes. I saw her get murdered, and I saw Brock get murdered, and Dawn as well. And I saw you, too." Gary exhaled lowly. "But that dream was set in about two or three weeks from now. I had time to get to you, and I wasn't wasting any of it. I came over here to save you from that."

"Lately, I've been wondering if I was next. A hollow part of me wanted it to happen already. My mind is just so dark and the questions floating around are just haunting me. Everything happening, Misty and Dawn and Brock, it's been pushing me off the edge. Today, I was pretty sure I was ready to jump."

"No, don't say that," Ruby said shakily, turning to face him. "Hearing you say that hurts more than watching you die. And trust me, watching everyone die and having no way to save them is pure torture. But I had time to get to you, and here I am, and if I would have gotten here to see you dead, I would- I- I don't know."

"Shh," Gary hushed her, wrapping his arms around her. "Don't cry. You know I hate it when you cry."

Ruby closed her eyes, letting his arms wrap around her, not having known the tears were streaming down her cheeks. An image of Gary, nine years old, flashed through her head. His eyebrows were furrowed with worry.

_"Shut up, don't cry! Stop crying! I hate it when you cry, Ruby!"_

"Everything caught up with you too, right?"

"Yeah," Ruby sniffled. "Watching people die is something that weighs you down at night, and sometimes I just want to curl up and cry myself to sleep. A lot of the times, I would, but I would hate myself so much afterwards because I felt so weak."

"After telling me all this, I'm pretty sure you're the strongest person I know." Ruby smiled softly.

"Thanks..."

"I feel like a huge idiot, though," Gary muttered, staring ahead. "I was so ready to leave everything behind, but I didn't realize what I was leaving behind. The chance to see you again, Grandpa, all of the pokemon that care about me. God, I'm such a selfish-"

"Everything caught up with you too, right?" Ruby said, reciting the words Gary had said. He sighed.

"Yeah. The murders, and Ash."

"Ash wasn't murdered, was he?"

"No, but… well, we got in a big fight about a year ago and he hasn't come back. I… told him that he was better off dead."

"You never take my advice of thinking before you talk, do you?"

"Sorry," Gary grumbled. "I don't even remember what we fought about. I just want Ash to come back."

"He will," Ruby said reassuringly. "If not, I'll _drag _him back here." Gary laughed at that, Ruby feeling his chest vibrate softly. Her cheeks felt hot, as if she was coming up with a fever, and she felt butterflies in her stomach. Gary always managed to make those butterflies appear as kid, and even now.

Suddenly, in the comfort of Gary's arms, she realized she felt tired and the mattress under her was the warmest, coziest bed she had ever lied on. She hadn't had a decent sleep in weeks, and she was sure Gary hadn't either. Gary's yawn confirmed that. He rested his chin on the top of her head, closing his eyes.

"I'm going to fall asleep," he mumbled his warning, hugging her tight. Ruby yawned shortly after, resting her head against his chest.

"Me too," she replied softly, closing her eyes and instantly feeling herself drift away. The way he was hugging her showed her that he didn't think she was some kind of half-pokemon freak. She still couldn't believe that Gary Oak had any feelings for her, unless the feeling of annoyance counted, but just knowing that he accepted her was enough for her.

Just as she was about to nod off, she felt the bed dip down as Arcanine climbed onto the bed and curled up next to them, his head resting on top of theirs.

-...-

The peak of Mt. Coronet was just up the rocky stairs and past the cavern's exit. Beyond that, he was sure he'd find some kind of powerful pokemon, but it didn't matter. He was weak and tired, and there was no way he would be able to capture a pokemon that was capable of knocking him unconscious by just being on the same mountain. He'd return to an angry Saturn with empty hands, and he didn't know how the man would react. He was already angry enough. Every ten minutes he noticed Silver wasn't at the peak of the mountain, he'd send a small but strong shock through Silver. Now Silver's skin felt warm and sore to the touch, but oddly numb. Maybe whatever was resting at the summit would let him rest as well.

Silver gulped in a low breath and pushed himself forward, up the stone stairs and past the cavern's exit. The peak of the mountain was dark and eerie. The sky was black and foggy with swirling grey clouds, and he couldn't see how high up he was. All he saw was a black pit, making him think that if he kept walking and fell off the mountain's edge, he'd never hit the floor, and somehow fade away with the blankness. Broken, dirty white pillars decorated a cracked marble floor, and he didn't understand why those were there, but ignored it. He walked forward cautiously, and once he made it past the broken pillars, he saw a small pokemon floating with her back to him. As he stepped closer, he could see that it was one of the Lake Guardians. Mesprit.

_"What are you doing here?" _a small voice asked. The voice belonged to Mesprit, but as she spoke, she didn't turn around. She simply kept floating, as if she knew Silver was no threat.

"I was sent here to capture you, but I mean no harm," Silver replied with a tired voice, striding towards Mesprit. As he got closer to her, he realized how tiny she was, but she sure was powerful. He had expected Diagla to be up there, especially when the energy he was attracting allowed him to read the statues, but instead, a Lake Spirit waited. The tiny Lake Spirit was strong enough to send her energy through the whole mountain and intoxicate Silver into passing out. Frightening and amazing.

Mesprit turned around, facing the boy. He was sweaty, his skin looked pale, and his eyes were extremely exhausted. The boy in general looked exhausted. His head was foggy and murky with cold thoughts, but oddly enough, he was calm around her. Despite his straight face and calm composure, Mesprit could tell his extreme exhaustion was caused by problems that were weighing him down and slowly crushing him. Her eyes softened with worry.

_"What's bothering you?" _she asked. Silver smiled weakly.

"A lot. I always thought I could get out of things by pushing through them with clenched fists, but right now that isn't an option. I screwed things up and I know I can fix them, if I could just get rid of this bug on my back." He looked down at the cuff, eyebrows furrowed, and breathed in slowly. He was suddenly uneasy. Not angry, but his stomach twisted in a way that made him feel uncomfortable. Mesprit examined his face, slowly floating over to him.

_"I'm sure you can get through your problems," _Mesprit said, looking up at the boy's weary eyes with her concerned ones. _"But I guess you need a little help. This is all I can do for you, though." _Her small paws hovered over the blinking cuff, and suddenly the lights dulled and it snapped open, falling to the ground with a metallic clank. Silver stared at the cuff in disbelief.

There. His wrist was free. He was free. His restraints were gone. He wasn't anyone's puppet anymore.

The strings were cut.

He looked up at Mesprit, who had a small smile on her face. Silver grinned widely, feeling immensely happy for the first time in a long time.

_"I'm sorry, that was all I could do."_

"No!" Silver exclaimed. "You did more than enough! I- thank you! Thank you so much, Mesprit."

_"No problem," _Mesprit replied, giddy with his sudden happy emotion. _"You needed help and I was glad to give it to you."_

"I don't know how I'll repay you."

_"No need! You had a small chance to ambush me, but you chose not to hurt me and face the consequences instead. This is my thanks to you."_

"Thank you, Mesprit," Silver said, bowing his head. "I have to go now."

_"Of course," _Mesprit replied, floating away from him. _"Go fix your problems. I have to wait for some friends now."_

"Bye!" Silver shouted before entering the cavern and almost tripping down the stairs. Even though he was completely burned out of energy, he kept running. He was just _relieved _to have that annoying cuff off his wrist, and Saturn off his back. He didn't know how long it would take him to figure out that Silver had escaped, but he wasn't wasting any time. He had an idea where Ruby was, and he would find her. He would find her and explain himself and the weight on his shoulders would be completely lifted.

* * *

_Nara: Yes~ I'm oddly proud of this chapter xD I wrote it all and it was like 2,000 words but I wasn't satisfied so I rewrote it and bam, 3,000+ words c: Yay~ *throws confetti*_

_Anyways, will things smooth over for Silver, or is it all too good to be true? Tell me what you think n.n_

_Thank you for reading c: _


	15. Slowly, But Surely

Ruby stirred awake to arms tightening around her waist. She lifted her head from the couch's armrest and saw Gary, face calm with sleep, his head rested against her stomach. She yawned and looked over at the television. The screen was a blue color, the movie they were watching the day before long over. She frowned. She didn't even get to watch the ending. She'd fallen asleep on Gary's couch again. Whenever they watched a movie, she'd always end up falling asleep before Gary, and she'd wake up with him hugging onto her in his sleep. Ruby smiled to herself as she moved Gary's head to the side and scooted away from him, hoping he wouldn't wake up. She slung her legs off the couch, careful not to step on Arcanine, and stood up, stretching her arms out above her head.

Ruby walked over to the window, pulling the curtain the slightest bit to see the sky painted with grey clouds.

_Perfect weather for some tea_, Ruby thought to herself as she headed over to the kitchen. She put the water to boil as Arcanine padded up to her, smiling up at her with droopy eyes. Ruby grinned back, petting him softly and sitting down at the kitchen table.

_"Want me to wake him up?" _Arcanine asked, pointing his snout in the direction of the couch. Ruby shook her head.

"Nah, let him sleep," she mumbled, closing her eyes and petting Arcanine rhythmically.

Poor kid was finally getting some sleep, but Ruby couldn't get her head around the fact that she was the reason the dark rims under his eyes were slowly but surely disappearing.

The week that she had spent with him brought him back onto his feet. She hadn't even planned on staying; she wanted to stay at a Pokemon Center, but Gary insisted she stay with him. So Ruby stayed in his guest room with Arcanine, and she spent the days reminiscing with Gary. He told her about what he did after losing the Kanto Pokemon League, and how he eventually decided he would help his grandfather with his lab instead of trying to beat Ash at everything. Ruby told him how she did challenge a few gyms in Sinnoh, but tried to enclose herself as much as possible. She told him about some of the dreams she had, and Gary listened with intent, gripping her hand whenever her face went pale.

If they weren't talking, they were playing videogames, walking around Viridian, or watching movies. They cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Gary turned out to be a great cook, and Ruby wasn't half bad either. They ate together, and were never silent at the table. They were always talking, bickering or not. But they both enjoyed every moment together, from fighting over who uses the bathroom first to watching movies together. Sometimes, as they watched the movies, the television being the only thing that illuminated the room, Gary would look over at Ruby and smile at the look of her face. Whether she was shocked, grinning, laughing, or on the verge of tears, he just smiled, a huge part of him wanting to just tackle her in his arms. He wanted to snuggle up against her and giver her kisses on the neck. When she fell asleep, he took that chance, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her forehead, and falling asleep with ease.

Ruby noticed all of it, minus the kisses on the forehead. But she noticed how sweet he was around her, and he was still the Gary from her childhood. He'd hesitantly hold her hand, but he wouldn't hesitate to shove her against the hallway and slam the bathroom door in her face. He'd hug her tightly, but pushed her off the couch when she was about to beat him in a racing game. Ruby acted the same, but not as boldly. If he reached for her hand, she nervously grabbed his hand, but if he pushed her off the couch she'd grab his legs and pull him off as well. The wars they had always ended up in fits of laughter. They pulled pranks on each other, but somehow, that was their form of saying 'I love you' when they didn't have the courage to say it out loud.

Ruby didn't even have the courage to admit to herself that she really, _really _liked Gary. But with every comeback, every prank, every small smile, and every time she woke up to his arms tightening around her, she was slowly starting to realize it.

A few knocks broke the thought. She quickly stood up, a nervous look on her face as if Gary had heard her thoughts. She walked over to the front door, hastily unlocked it and swung the door open.

She almost screamed, but instead, slammed the door close. A hand stopped it and pushed it open again as she stumbled back, eyes wide.

"Ruby-"

"Get out," she whispered lowly. "Silver, get the hell out of here!"

"Ruby, I just want to talk!"

"No. No way. Just, just please leave, now!" Silvers eyes shrouded with both hurt and anger. When he found out he couldn't simply teleport to where ever Ruby was, he was crushed. When he found out the next boat leaving to Cerulean city wasn't until eighteen hours later, he was frustrated. But now, hearing Ruby shout at him to leave, he didn't know what to be. Angry, or sad?

But he wasn't leaving without getting his words out.

"Ruby, I didn't want to kill anyone, okay?"

"I don't want to hear it."

"Hear me out!"

"I don't want to!"

"Ruby, please!"

"Silver, just-" She cut herself off, staring at Silver. He looked exhausted, ready to fall onto his back and sleep. His eyes were set with determination to speak to her, get her to listen. But not much of Ruby trusted Silver. What if he was bluffing? The boy he was going to kill was in the same room, after all.

"I really think you should leave," Ruby mumbled calmly. Silver only shook his head, walking inside and closing the door behind him.

"I want to talk."

They stayed silent, staring at each other, until a groan broke the silence. They both stiffened, watching as Gary sat up and rubbed his eyes. He stood, yawned, and then looked at them.

"Morning," he said, blinking at Silver. "Who's that?" Gary asked Ruby. Ruby bit her lip softly, wondering what to say.

"Who is this?" Gary asked again, walking towards the two of them.

"Um, well… remember the boy I traveled with on the way to Snowpoint?"

"Yeah?"

"This is him." Gary's eyes widened for a few seconds as he pieced the puzzle together. Long red hair and golden eyes. He remembered what Ruby said about him, how hurt she looked when she spoke his name. He could tell, though, that she cared about him. A lot, even. It just makes it that much worse that he crushed her like that. His eyes glared rage at him and the boy opened his mouth to speak.

But Gary didn't want to hear a word the guy had to say. Which is why he swung a fist that hit him hard on his cheek bone.

Before Ruby could gasp, Silver punched back, hitting Gary on the side of his chin. The two kept swinging, ignoring Ruby's shouting.

"Stop! Gary, Silver!" She watched for a few seconds, a helpless look in her eyes before she furrowed her eyebrows in an infuriated scorn and pushed the two apart.

"Stop!" she shouted loudly, slamming a fist in their chests. To Ruby's luck, they simply stood there, panting and glaring at each other. "Arceus, what's gotten into you two?!"

"He's punched first-"

"He's the guy that-"

"Quiet!" Ruby shouted furiously, crossing her arms tightly. Silver and Gary shut their mouths, and Ruby looked at them, trying to figure out how to sort the problem out.

"Gary, go sit on the couch."

"But Ruby-"

"Go. Sit. On the. _Couch._" At the sound of that tone, he rushed over to the couch and sat down on the farthest side, averting his eyes from her look. He hadn't seen her this mad since when they were ten and he and Ash had gotten into a fist fight.

Ruby turned to Silver, who quickly looked away from her as well. "You sit on the couch, too. Far from him."

"I'll just-"

"Do as I say. And if you two throw punches again, man are you going to be sorry," she hissed. Silver nodded and hastily made his way to the couch, putting as much distance between him and Gary as possible. Ruby walked to the kitchen and returned with two plastic bags filled with ice. She handed one to each of them then sat between them. She let out a long sigh.

"You two morons scared the life out of me."

"I'm sorry," they both said in unison. They sent each other glares.

"Whatever. Silver, say what you need to say, because afterwards, you're out of here." Silver felt like complaining, but decided not to test Ruby while she was in her rage mode. If she decided to kick him out after he said his part, so be it. He had a feeling, though, that he would be able to stick around much longer.

"Okay," he began, fiddling with his fingers. "I'll start from the beginning then... Uhm, I'm that kid. I'm the kid that was with you when the man experimented on you. That was me." Ruby nodded, staring forward. A big part of her was always sure that Silver was the mewtwo kid, but having him confirm her suspicions somehow made her stomach clench. She motioned for him to go on. "After I killed him, I went home to my father. His name was Giovanni, you might know him."

"The leader of Team Rocket?" Gary asked. Silver nodded, half positive Gary was judging him as some sort maniac. His judgments could only get worse.

"Yeah, well, I came home, told him what happened, and he was _happy._ He was shining with happiness, not because I was home safe and sound, but because I was home with this power he could use to his advantage. So, he used me to his advantage. He used me to rob places, charge machines that wouldn't be able to function without my energy, all that fun stuff. At one point, I got sick of it. I told him I was done doing his bidding, and he wasn't amused at all. We got in a fight, and, you guessed it, I killed him. By accident."

After a few beats of silence, he continued, "After that, I didn't have anywhere to go, so I kind of migrated to where ever the grunts went and wound up in Sinnoh. I found myself a nice abandoned factory and did a little dirty work to get money. Sometimes, I used my mewtwo powers to help me out. I was getting sick of using my powers for bad like that, and I was going to stop doing dirty work right after I finished up with this task for this guy. His name was Saturn, know him?"

"One of the commanders of Team Galactic, right?"

"Right," Silver replied to Ruby. "He asked me to break him out of jail for a good amount of money. I did it, and I thought that was where it ended, but no. He ambushed me, clicked a cuff on me, and if I didn't do as he told me, that cuff sent shocks throughout my body, and could even explode if I ever doubted him and crossed the line. His next task for me was to kill Ash Ketchum's friends. He had a bone to pick with Ash, I could tell. I didn't know what it was that made him want to go as far as kill the boy, but I had to do as told and kill Misty. Then Brock, then Dawn, and then I was supposed to kill Gary. But that wasn't for another month or so. And that's when I met you, Ruby. Now, honestly, I didn't want to kill them. I was forced to kill them by Saturn. And I'm sorry. It was my stupid fault for getting myself into this, and it was my fault I tangled you into this mess. But, I want to make it up to you. Well, this might not be enough to excuse the fact that I killed three of your friends, but I just... want to do this for you guys." Silver breathed in, looking from Ruby to Gary, then back at Ruby.

"I know where Ash is. I'll get you two there, and we'll make sure Saturn doesn't win this one."


	16. A Lazy Day

A wild silence spread over them. Silver's words hung there. It took time for those words to process through their heads, and it was harder for Gary. Ash had been gone for what felt like an eternity. Since he had been gone for so long, the words were hard to believe. What also made them hard to believe was that the person who spoke them had killed a good number of his and Ash's friends. Who was to say that Silver wasn't lying? That he wasn't saying this just to lead them to a secluded place and kill them both. But the thought of having Ash back was both good, but too good to be true.

He'd simply have to take that risk.

"Where is he? How do you know?" Gary asked. The suspicion in his voice made Ruby wince, but Silver either ignored it or didn't notice it.

"He's at the top of Mt. Silver. I know this because I can sense where people are. I never told Saturn this, because then he'd just kill Ash immediately." Ruby glanced over at Gary, who had his eyebrows furrowed together, trying to make sense of it all. "I know this might be hard to believe... I did kind of kill your friends. But, I'm being completely honest. I want to get you guys to Ash, before Saturn can get there. I understand if you guys don't want anything to do with me after this."

"You'll take us to Ash?" Gary asked. Silver nodded his response. "And after that, you'll be out of our lives?"

"Gary-"

"That's right," Silver responded softly. Gary glanced at Ruby, then stared forward. After a few long moments of silence, Ruby stood up.

"Silver, are you hungry?"

"J-Just a little," Silver replied.

"Come on," Ruby said. "I'll make us all something to eat."

She prepared a batch of mini-pancakes for the three of them, plus some poffins for their pokemon. She felt strange, cooking under complete silence and without Gary by her side, bumping her with his hip and making her splash batter everywhere. Without him preparing breakfast with her, it was a lot less messy, but not as fun, either. She set the plate piled with mini-pancakes on the middle of the table, handed each of the boys a plate, and was the first to dig in. The tension was still there, which made the food that much harder to swallow. She sighed, setting her fork down.

"Stop being so tense," she mumbled.

"I'm not tense," Gary responded, picking at his food.

"Neither am I... Okay, maybe a little," Silver admitted.

"Well, if we're going to get to Ash, you two are going to have to get used to each other. I'll start with this: Silver, meet Gary. A stubborn, hot headed boy that sometimes acts like a child."

"Hey-"

"And Gary, meet Silver, a red-head who needs anger management but behind it all is actually really sweet and idiotic."

"Idiotic?"

"And I'm Ruby. Awesome girl with an awesome personality." Gary smirked.

"Oh, don't be so modest," he snapped. "I mean, you're such a wonderful girl, even though you're such a scaredy cat."

"Am not," Ruby hissed, stuffing a pancake in her mouth. "Shuf uff." Silver watched the two argue with an amused smile, but when Gary looked his way, he quickly averted his eyes. He knew that Ruby was trying to get the two boys to get along, but he had a feeling that wouldn't happen.

'If I were in Gary's shoes, I'd hate me too,' he thought to himself as he absentmindedly finished his pancakes.

"Hey, um...," Silver began once they finished their breakfast, "I know I just got here and everything, and you guys probably want to throw me out on the street or something, but, is it okay if I crash for a while? I kind of haven't slept well in a good week or so."

"Actually-"

"Yeah, sure!" Ruby quickly replied, standing up. "I'll take you to the guest room." Gary sent her a glare, and she glared back before leading Silver to her guest room. Her belongings were shoved in the closet, which meant that, to Ruby's relief, he wouldn't notice that this was her temporary room and he wouldn't insist on going somewhere else. She wanted him to get as much rest as he could; the anger she had felt towards him a week ago was suddenly replaced by concern.

"Is Gary okay with this?" Silver asked. Ruby quickly nodded.

"Yeah, and if not, I'll knock some sense into him. Just, go to to sleep. You look tired." With that, she shut off the lights, closed the door behind her, and made her way to the living room, where Gary was already flipping through channels.

"I see you've made sure Silver was comfortable in my house," he grumbled sarcastically. Ruby threw herself onto the couch, resting her legs on his lap.

"Don't be unfair. That poor kid's been through enough."

"I remember a few days ago you hated that poor kid," he retorted. Ruby glared at him.

"I'm over it. I think he's telling the truth."

"And what if he's not?"

"I'm willing to take that risk for Ash, and I know you are, too. You're just too stubborn to admit it."

"Okay, miss I-know-everything, where are you going to sleep?"

"... I'll sleep on the couch."

"I'm not letting you sleep on the couch. I'll sleep on the couch."

"I'm not letting you sleep on the couch either!"

Gary sighed, "Our matched stubbornness proves to be a disadvantage to us both."

"Don't you have a sleeping bag or something?"

"No. Something wrecked it and I got mad so I burned it..."

"...Are you okay?" Gary laughed half-heartedly.

"I'm fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're welcomed to sleep on my bed... I mean we've kind of been sleeping together on the couch..." Ruby's cheeks flared up, and she quickly turned her eyes to the television.

"Well that's different. I accidentally fall asleep and you decide to sleep with me."

"Well then accidentally fall asleep on my bed."

"You make it sound weird..."

"I-I'm not trying to," Gary quickly added. "Look, let's worry about this later. The day is still young. What are we going to do today?"

"We can't leave Silver alone," Ruby said, pointing a thumb towards the guest room. "And we need to decide when we'll go find Ash, and we'll need to get ready for that-"

"Then today, we relax. Today is a lazy day."

"How is this different from any other day, then?" Ruby asked with a smile. Gary smirked back, standing up and causing Ruby's legs to plop to the floor.

"I'll go grab a few movies, then. Requests?"

"Comedy. And maybe a scary movie. I'm feeling daring today." Gary raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Last time you saw a scary movie, you couldn't stop punching me in your sleep because of your nightmare." Ruby blushed, embarrassed.

"Whatever," she grumbled. "Get whatever you want." Gary laughed at her pout. "I'll shower while you're gone."

"Alright," he called out as he exited the house. He took a few steps forward, then stopped.

Was he really about to leave Ruby alone with a murderer she most likely had feelings for?

"I'm not that stupid," he muttered to himself, trying to push away that quick pang of panic. He brought out Umbreon, who looked at him with annoyance.

"Do me a favor, keep an eye on Silver and protect Ruby. If you think something's wrong, get Ruby out of there or come to me, okay?" Umbreon nodded, but only after he gave him a quick eye roll. "Hey, you can't blame me for being overprotective." Umbreon sighed, and darted into the house when Gary opened the door for him. A little bit of peace settled over him, and Gary forced himself to walk forward, even though he wanted to be around Ruby at all times now that Silver was there.

**. . . **

Silver slept almost the whole day. When he woke up, it was almost ten at night. Ruby and Gary were in the middle of watching their fourth movie, an action movie involving two men chasing after a wicked villain. Ruby turned around and saw that Silver was awake.

"Hey Silver. Finally decided to wake up?"

"I'm sorry," Silver replied groggily, making his way to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry? There's some left over pizza on the table."

"Thanks," he muttered, and chugged down a full glass of water. He grabbed two slices of pizza and shuffled his feet towards the couch, where he sat next to Ruby. Gary sent a quick glance towards the bed-headed boy, and then focused his attention on the movie.

"How many movies have you guys watched?"

"Like, four," Ruby replied. "This is what we do almost every day."

"Really? Sounds nice," Silver mumbled, and soon, he was enveloped in the movie. He hoped they had more movies to watch. He scarfed down the slices of pizza, and Ruby offered to make him popcorn, which he gladly accepted. Ruby smiled when she saw him leaning back comfortably against the couch. Suddenly, she felt an arm around her, darted her eyes over to Gary, who simply kept looking at the movie. She rolled her eyes at how immature Gary was acting. But maybe he'd drop the act once he got used to Silver. She knew that the two would get along great, be good friends, but Silver was probably scared or felt immensely guilty, which was fine, and Gary was just a stubborn moron at times. When the movie ended, she stood up, ejected the disk, and began to look for the other movie.

"Uh, before I flip this room upside down looking for the movie, I want to get something settled." She turned to the two boys, who looked up at her with sleepy interest. "Tomorrow, I think we should get ready to leave to Mt. Silver. Mt. Silver is a tough mountain; hardly anyone is allowed to explore the mountain. We need to pack up on supplies, and then leave the next morning. Does that sound good to you guys?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"Okay, good," Ruby said with a nod. "Now help me find that movie." The two boys stood up and helped Ruby. Silver kept his distance from the two, his thoughts overwhelming him. He could see clearly that the two liked each other, and didn't want to feel jealous. He had to contain that feeling, especially if he was going to take them to Ash. He should feel happy that Ruby seemed to forgive him, or trust him at the very least. He glanced over at Ruby, who was busy looking under the couch. She stood up, holding the movie in hand with a victorious grin when Gary smacked her head with a couch cushion. The movie fell out of her hands and she stumbled back. She glared at Gary, who was laughing loudly, and took the cushion away from him and began attacking him with it. Silver sighed, gave himself a sad smile.

He wondered how long it would take to diminish the feeling.


	17. A Weight on our Shoulders

The next day was spent preparing for their trip to Mt. Silver's summit. They bought everything they thought was essential; things like potions, full heals, food and berries. They made sure to buy sweaters and jackets; the closer you got to Mt. Silver's summit, the colder it would get, and they wanted to be prepared for that. After all the supplies were bought, they sat down with a map of the mountain and decided how exactly they would get to the summit.

"This mountain is crazy," Ruby muttered under her breath. "That, or this map isn't written well."

"No, the mountain is pretty crazy," Gary said. "That's why hardly anyone goes inside it."

"Why is it so dangerous?"

"It's filled with crumbling rocks and weird weather changes," Gary said.  
"Because supposedly the three legendary birds like to hang out there," Silver piped in. Ruby furrowed her eyebrows together, staring at the map. Arcanine padded over to her, resting his head on her lap.

_"We'll have to be real careful," _he barked after examining the map a few times.

"Yeah..."

"Yeah what?" Gary asked. He found it interesting how Ruby was able to communicate so easily with the pokemon around her. He could understand his pokemon; they shared that bond that trainers got with their pokemon after working together for so long. But he couldn't have a conversation where he understood everything his pokemon was saying, and they understood him, like Ruby could. He didn't mean to be nosy, but whenever he heard Ruby talking to Arcanine, he liked to listen in, or ask questions. It interested him, what sorts of conversations Ruby and her pokemon could have. Maybe his deep curiosity was what he inherited from his grandfather.

"Oh. Uh, he said we should be careful. Which is true. We have to be really careful. We don't want to disrupt the pokemon in there, who probably aren't used to people roaming around their home. And we don't want to get squished by some rocks, either."

"We'll be fine," Gary said, giving the two a positive smile. "We'll walk in, find Ash, walk out, and everything will be perfect again." His positive attitude made Ruby smiled, but of course, none of them could help being a bit scared of the mountain, and what they would face.

"So, we'll leave tomorrow morning, right?" Ruby asked. The two boys nodded. "Cool," she mumbled, folding up the map. She stood up, gave the boys a nod, and turned towards the hallway. "I'm just going to put my stuff away. I'll be back to help out with dinner."

She dragged her heavy backpack to Gary's room. When she was approaching the guest room, she almost walked in, but caught herself, and kept walking straight forward. She dumped her backpack against the wall, sat down on the edge of Gary's still unmade mattress, and began to peel of her shoes when she heard a light knock.

"Come in," she called out, and in entered Silver, who closed the door slowly behind him.

"Hey," he mumbled. "I didn't want to be in the living room with Gary, and, uh, I don't know, I guess we haven't had a second alone in a while..."

"Do you need to talk to me about something?" Ruby asked. Silver shook his head, then stayed silent.

"I guess, just that, I'm sorry. For what happened back in Route-"

"It's fine, Silver," Ruby interrupted. "I should have let you talk. But I didn't, and you got mad. It's okay."

"But I got mad and scared you. You were already pretty freaked out with what you found out, and maybe I should have told you sooner about everything, instead of letting you find out accidentally. I guess I was kind of... scared of what you would think. I didn't think you'd believe me with the whole Saturn thing... But I took the whole situation immaturely, and I'm sorry I brought you into everything."

A silence stayed for a few beats, and Ruby had a few seconds to examine Silver. Maybe letting that out, releasing the weight on his chest, was doing good to him, because he didn't look as tired and annoyed with the world as he had when they were traveling through Sinnoh. Sure, he tried to seem calm and kind around her, but she saw through it, most of it. He was nice, but he had a shadow of anger over him. Now, though, the shadow seemed to be gone, and Ruby was glad. She looked at his hands; he was fidgeting with his fingers. She was surprised to see how bruised his knuckles were. His favorite way to release anger might be to punch the nearest object, she thought to herself.

"I get it."

"Huh?"

"I get it. The whole being scared thing. I don't like telling people that I'm part pokemon because I'm afraid of how they'll react. My parents already took it really badly; my dad left us and my mom killed herself. They couldn't handle that I was so freaky and different. I thought, what kind of person would want to hang around some freak absol girl? And I didn't want to mix them into my mess; my mess of being able to predict deaths. The thought that people around me would get hurt because of my predictions stuck to me. That's pretty much why I isolated myself from everyone once I moved to Sinnoh. I was afraid of how they would take it." She paused, smiling. "I rambled a little."

"No," Silver said, smiling back. "I'm glad that you understand. I'm some angry wreck but you always manage to understand."

"We've all got our perks," Ruby said with a wink. She stood up, grabbed his hand, and examined his knuckles. A small jolt of warmth ran through Silver at the feel of her touch, but he kept a straight face and let her look over his bruised knuckles.

"Your knuckles don't hurt?"

"I got used to it," Silver shrugged. Ruby let go of his hand, a slight disappointment washing over him, and walked back towards the door. Before exiting, she turned to him.

"I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to take this wild guess here. You got to Misty and Brock and Dawn so easily by teleporting, right?"

"Yes..."

"Then, why did it take you so long to get here?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, I had to go to Mt. Coronet's summit. Saturn's order. I walked into the mountain, I was pissed off, and wasted a lot of my energy. And when I got to the summit, a lake spirit was there, and helped me get rid of the cuff. Having wasted my energy like that and being around the lake spirit kind of zapped me out. I don't know when I'll get my mewtwo powers back, but for now, I can't do much except understand pokemon."

"Oh," Ruby muttered, processing everything. She opened the door and said, "Saturn pisses me off. I don't like him."

Silver gave out a laugh, one that showed that the weight really had lifted off his shoulders. "You don't even know, Ruby."

* * *

_This just in. Nara, the writer of this story, does not know who she ships. _

_HALP._

_-Love, Nara_


	18. Inside the Mountain

Ruby walked out of Gary's house to a chilly morning. Viridian City was silent; everyone was asleep peacefully, giving the city that nice morning silence that settles when the sun is barely rising. The sky was painted a low blue with a few thin clouds skimming the surface. A perfect morning, Ruby thought to herself. A positive smile swept her lips. Maybe the rest of the trip would go along perfectly and smoothly as well.

"It's nice out here," Gary said, stretching out his arms above his head as he let out a small yawn. Arcanine trotted over to Ruby and licked her hand. She smiled, gave him a nice pat on the head. Silver was the last to walk out into the cool air. He walked past Gary, and Gary quickly locked the door. At the sound of the door clicking shut, an anxious feeling stayed at the pit of his stomach. He tried to shove the feeling away as he put away his key and turned back to Ruby and Silver.

Silver turned to Ruby, a sly smile on his face. "You ready?" he asked. Ruby quickly nodded. The weight of her backpack, which was filled with everything she needed, was reassuring.

"To Mt. Silver, then-" Gary cut himself off, squinted his eyes. Walking towards them was someone in a lab coat, a very familiar someone. "Grandpa?"

"Grandpa!" Ruby shouted happily. She rushed towards him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Prof. Oak laughed at her excitement, his laughs coming out strangled when she hugged him too tightly.

"R-Ruby. Nice to see you," he choked out, smiling weakly. She released the poor man and gave him a huge grin.

"Hey! I'm sorry, last time I saw you I was kind of in a rush. It's great to see you, Grandpa!"

"Great to see you, too."

"Grandpa," Gary said, giving Oak a small smile. He hadn't seen his grandfather in what felt like forever. His eyes looked extremely tired and stressed, and a pang to his chest made him feel as if his weary appearance was his fault. A few weeks back, before Ruby had come into his life and picked him back up onto his feet, he had isolated himself from everyone. He knew that everyone was worried about him, but back then, he didn't care. He simply wanted to shut himself out from everyone and drown in his own self-pity, his thoughts keeping him awake and keeping him miserable. But if there was anyone that was worried about him the most, it would be his grandfather. Oak had knocked at his door, called him plenty of times, but Gary ignored him. Now that he was feeling better, he realized how much of a jerk he had been. His grandfather smiled warmly, a look of relief flashing through his eyes. Great, now he felt even worse.

"Hi, Grandpa," Gary said, bringing in Prof. Oak for a hug. Prof. Oak hugged him back tightly, exhaling lowly.

"It's good to see you getting better," he said once they broke the hug.

"It's thanks to Ruby, really."

"N-No," Ruby quickly said, waving her hands dismissively.

"She has that effect," Silver said with a smirk. Ruby glared at him. Before she could protest, Prof. Oak spoke up.

"Well, thank you, Ruby, for taking care of my grandson." Ruby smiled and decided to take the complimented. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I heard you guys say you were going to Mt. Silver?"

"Yeah. We are," Gary said lowly.

"What's this about?" Oak asked in a concerned tone. Gary, Silver, and Ruby all exchanged glances, feeling as if they had been caught snatching a cookie before dinner.

"We're going to get Ash," Ruby spoke up, matching Oak's steady gaze. She watched him, could tell he was shocked.

"Ash?"

"He's at the summit," Gary added. He wondered if his grandfather would try to stop him. But all he did was nod, giving him a stern look.

"Be careful," he said, the seriousness in his tone almost scaring him.

"I will be, grandpa," Gary said, giving him a warm, reassuring smile. "We will."

**. . . **

The air quickly shifted when they entered the mountain. It was rocky inside, the trail covered with wilting grass, the air damp but a bit chilly. The trail winded upwards, narrow in some places, wide enough for all three to stand next to each other in other places.

After they all said good bye to a worried Prof. Oak, and promised him they'd see him right after they left the mountain, they began to make their way to Route 22, past the empty Pokemon League Reception Gate, through Route 28, and finally, into Mt. Silver. Outside, the mountain poked out of the ground and pierced through thick white clouds and into the sky. The very top of the mountain was covered with snow. That was where Ash was at, Gary had thought to himself. The entrance into the mountain's first floor was blocked by a few rocks that Arcanine was able to push aside. The inside of the mountain was just as creepy feeling as the outside.

"How do we get to 2F?" Gary asked, staring up. The trail winded for what seemed like an eternity, only to come to a dead end, leading to a craggy highland of stone. More platforms stuck out from the side of the mountain's rocky walls. Ruby squinted her eyes, could see an entrance that could be reached by getting to the highest ledge. Their obstacles were loose rocks, a winding trail, multiple platforms to climb onto using the rocky walls, and a roaring waterfall towards the far left that lead to an icy lake.

"Alright. We just have to climb up the ledges until we can get to that platform right there where the exit is at."

"Are those platforms safe? Will they crumble?" Silver asked.

"Maybe," Ruby replied nonchalantly. Gary and Silver exchanged glances as Ruby marched passed them, walking through the trail. She looked up, saw the rocky ledge, examined the way she would take to climb up to the ledge. Hopefully the platform was flat enough, she thought to herself.

_"Why don't you use your pokemon to get up there?"_ Arcanine asked. Ruby shook her head.

"No way. I mean, I'd love to take the easy way out of this, but if we send out our pokemon, the pokemon around us might feel threatened. It's better to do this our way, and ask you guys for help when we truly need it." Arcanine nodded. "Also, you're not as small as you used to be, so you need to be in your pokeball."

_"I figured,"_ Arcanine sighed, and let himself be brought into his pokeball. After Ruby returned Arcanine, she grabbed hold of a rock jabbing out of the mountain's wall, tugged it to see if it would break free under her weight, then began to climb up. She grabbed the rocks that jabbed out, and placed her feet on those rocks or inside any free space she could find. She hadn't even noticed that she was holding her breath throughout the trip to the ledge. She was almost there, she thought to herself as she placed her foot on top of one of the rocks. The rock crumbled under her weight, though, and she shrieked, grasping onto the rocks in her hand.

"Ruby!" Gary and Silver shouted. Ruby swallowed hard, regaining her composure as she hooked her foot into a gap in the mountain wall.

"I'm fine," she replied, but the shakiness in her voice made the two boys frown with worry. Gary watched with wide eyes as Ruby kept going, kept inching upward towards the ledge. Finally, she stretched out her leg, felt the hard stone with her foot. She gently shifted her weight on that leg, kind of hopped off the wall and landed on the ledge smoothly, her heart still racing.

"Alright guys, come on," she shouted. Gary and Silver exchanged glances, and Gary was the first to start climbing up the wall. Silver gave him some space, and then started climbing up as well. Gary made it to the ledge first, the feeling of the firm platform on his feet reassuring. Silver inched up quickly, forcefully grabbing the rocks. He was holding his breath. But he liked the sensation. The tenseness in his body as he climbed upwards, towards the ledge. He didn't want to fall, but simply knowing that he could fall was making his heart race. He finally got to the ledge, but at the last second he lost his balance and fell back a bit. Gary quickly grabbed his arm, and in one swift motion pulled him back on his feet.

"Thanks," Silver breathed out, the adrenaline in him only increasing.

"No problem. Let's catch up to Ruby," he said, pointing at Ruby, who was already half way to the next ledge.

**. . .**

"Almost there," Ruby huffed under her breath. She stood and looked at the last ledge, where the entrance to 2F was. Cold sweat trickled down her forehead, her arms and legs hurt, and her heart was pounding, but she felt satisfied. Finally, they were almost to the exit of 1F, and the entrance of 2F.

"What time is it?" Gary called out. He was only a few feet from the ledge. Ruby checked her watch. Her eyes went wide when she realized it was almost 8pm.

"Does time go faster when we're in here?" she asked. Gary and Silver looked at her.

"Why? What time is it?" Silver said almost breathlessly.

"8 pm."

"What?!" Gary shouted, climbing onto the ledge with her. He turned around, helped Silver up, then turned to her.

"How the hell is it 8 pm?" Silver asked, running a hand through his red hair.

"Crazy, isn't it," Ruby muttered. "We can make camp in 2F, how about that?"

"Sure. But can we just take a break here?"

"Is it a good idea for all of us to stand here, though?" Silver asked. Ruby frowned.

"You're right. Let's get to 2F." Ruby began climbing upward, and Gary and Silver followed suit closely by. When she got to the ledge, she sighed in relief, and helped the two boys get up. She turned to the exit with a happy, satisfied smile.

"Finally," she breathed out, taking a few steps to the side so that the boys could fit on the ledge. She was about to take a step towards the entrance when a roar broke lose. The roar, although menacing, sounded like it was coming from an angered or scared pokemon. The roar was followed by a few stomps, causing a huge uproar of the pokemon hiding from the three of them. They scurried around, zubats and golbats screeching, magikarps flopping in and out of the water from the lake below them. The ground below them shook, and rocks crumbled around them.

They had pissed off the wrong pokemon.

"This is not good!" Ruby shouted above the chaos.

"Ruby!" Silver shouted. She looked up; saw a boulder flying towards her. She stumbled backwards, hit the back of her legs against another boulder. She fell back, and she didn't fall flat on her back against the ledge. No, she kept falling, and she could feel her heart beating in her throat. She let into it, let out a scream that merged with the roaring and the shaking of the mountain.

Soon, the chaos of everything was muted as she splashed into the cold lake.

Her body immediately tensed up with the feel of the cold water and she frantically began to flail her arms. But with her backpack and sweater on, it was hard to move towards the surface. A feeling of overwhelming helplessness overcame her as the water seemed to get thicker, her body heavier. She wanted to scream for help. Gary, Silver, anyone. She blinked her eyes tight, didn't know if she was crying. She kept flailing, kept trying to move up. How deep was this lake? When she looked down to see absolute darkness, fear swept through her. Soon, she couldn't take the lack of air anymore, couldn't take the cold. But she kept flailing until she felt herself falling, drifting.

"Ruby!" Gary and Silver shouted, peering down just as she splashed into the water. Gary didn't wait. He flung his backpack to the floor and dove down, bracing himself for the cold of the water. But no way could he have expected the water to be that cold. He ignored the stiffness of his muscles against the freezing water and instead looked for Ruby. He saw her a few feet away from him, her arm weakly reaching towards the surface. She flailed one last time, then her eyes closed in defeat.

Panic sent Gary forward, swimming against the icy water. When he reached Ruby, he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her up as she sunk down. How limp she felt made another wave of panic flash through him. She was alive, definitely. No way could she have drowned; no way was she dead. He couldn't bear to lose anybody else. He quickly started swimming up, and when he reached the surface he gasped in loudly, shivering against the cold wind. He started swimming towards Silver, who had made it down with the help of one of his pokemon. Silver helped him pull Ruby out of the water, and helped him out too.

"We need to warm her up," Gary barked, urgency and concern making his voice boom. Silver nodded and took off his jacket while Gary took off her backpack and her sweater, both heavy with lake water. He laid out the sweater next to him, then grabbed the first pokeball on her belt. He clicked the middle button, and out came Arcanine, who gave him a lopsided doggy grin. At the sight of Ruby, his face changed immediately.

_"What's wrong?!"_ he barked.

"She fell in the water," Silver stumbled out.

_"Is she breathing?!"_

"Uh-" As if he had understood him, Gary put his ear next to her mouth, watched her chest for any movement.

"… I think she might have swallowed water!" He quickly started to push down on her chest, and almost immediately she shot up, coughing out water. She kept coughing, her body shaking. Silver let out a sigh of relief that she was fine, and that he didn't have to watch Gary kiss air into her. He pushed the last thought behind.

"Wh-What-"

"You're fine," Silver quickly said, handing her his jacket, and she took it gratefully. "You fell in the water, breathed in some water and passed out. But you're fine; you're fine now."

Ruby lied down against the hard rock floor, and curled up into a ball. She tried to slow her breathing and she curled up tighter, trying desperately to get warmer. Gary and Silver both pulled out their blankets, placing them over her. They rushed to set up a fire, and after Arcanine lit the kindling they found, he wrapped himself around Ruby, letting her use his arm as a pillow.

"C-Cold," Ruby moaned out. Her muscles felt extremely tired, and her skin kept shivering, even under the two blankets and Silver's jacket. But she was so very grateful, and if she could get over the cold of her body and stand up, she'd hug the life out of them and let out the fear and shock of what she went through in the form of tears. She refused to cry, though, and she couldn't seem to stand up. "Thank you guys s-so much. I ca-can't believe I w-was so s-stupid," she hissed out, glaring.

"It's not your fault," Silver reassured her. "Right when we were going to enter 2F, we upset a pokemon. And if you hadn't moved back, you could have been crushed. If you had moved forward, you would have crashed into us and we would have all fallen back. There was no winning in the situation."

"I don't think we should go through that exit," Gary said, looking up. He looked at the lake Ruby had fallen in, noticed another entrance. "Maybe that will take us somewhere," he suggested. Silver and Ruby looked in the direction he pointed at.

"It's all we can do for now," Silver mumbled.

Soon, they all grew tired, and the first to fall asleep were Arcanine and Silver. Silver slept in his sleeping bag and used his backpack as a pillow; Arcanine curled around Ruby even tighter, intent on keeping her warm and protecting her tonight. When he thought Ruby was asleep, Gary finally peeled off his cold, wet sweater, which had been sticking to him and only made him colder. He quickly changed into a different set of clothes. After he changed, he looked over at Ruby.

"You're cold," she stated simply, sitting up.

"I'm fine."

"Come here, share the blankets with me. Even though they're not really warm."

"I'm fine, Ruby."

"No you're not," Ruby said, shaking her head. "You dived in for me, Gary. You must be as cold as I am."

"Have you changed?"

"Yeah. I changed when I you guys weren't looking."

"Move over, then." When he lied down next to her, he felt the blankets and jacket warm him up instantly. They were a bit damp from when Ruby had her wet clothes on, but he didn't mind. It was still much warmer that lying on the ground with his backpack as a pillow.

They both stayed silent, listening to each other's breathing. Gary made sure to keep some space between he and Ruby, but Ruby nudged forward. They felt much warmer when they were closer to each other, their faces especially warm. Ruby knew she was making a bold move there. But underwater, seeing Gary swim towards her the second before she drifted off into unconsciousness, she finally realized something. And she was finally ready to admit it. She was determined not to chicken out.

Finally, she broke the silence.

"Thank you," Ruby mumbled, grabbing his cold hands in hers. Gary looked at Ruby, her red eyes, and felt his face flush. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hoping that she felt a bit warmer.

"I already told you I love you, right?" he said, giving her that childish grin. She smiled back at him. His hair was so disheveled, and his nose and cheeks were rosy with cold. She was so sure of it. She genuinely liked him. _A lot_. As kids, she cared about him, thought he was annoying, but loved to be around him, even if he could be snot-nosed sometimes. But now, after waking up with his arms around her, after saving him from his depressed state, after all these years, she knew she felt the same way.

Yet she still didn't know exactly how she felt about Silver. The feeling wasn't as strong, but she was sure grateful. She cared about him, as well, but the trust they had had shrunk. She still trusted him, and maybe the trip to the summit would strengthen the bond, but for now, she knew the crush on him had diminished.

All she was sure of was her feelings for Gary.

The lump in her throat didn't allow her to pour out her feelings. Instead, she pressed her lips against his and felt a warmth spread all over her. And when she felt him kiss back, she couldn't help feeling as if she was on top of the world.

When she put her lips over his, Gary was shocked. He always thought that, even though he told her that he loved her immensely, she would never feel the same way. He thought Ruby still thought of him as a the nine-year old child he used to be. But here she was, kissing him, hugging onto his waist tightly. Finally, the happiness of Ruby's kiss took him over, and he kissed her back, hugging her tighter, closing his eyes.

When Ruby broke the kiss, Gary gave her one last quick peck. She buried her head in his chest, didn't remove her arms from around his waist. She closed her eyes, mumbling, "Good night."

"I love you so much, Ruby," Gary said, kissing the top of her head. But by that time, Ruby had fallen into sleep, and his tiredness swept him away as well.


	19. Revolving

Ruby was the first one to wake up. She felt a cold wind wrapping around her feet. She curled up, hiding her feet under the blankets, nudging Gary but not waking him. She looked up at his face, calm with sleep, and felt her face flush. She rested her head against his chest, but she knew she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. Just being there, though, with Gary's arms hugging her softly and hearing his soft breathing was something Ruby couldn't explain, she simply liked it a lot.

Finally, she decided to get up a change into her clothes, maybe start eating some breakfast. After changing, she checked the time and was shocked to see that it was almost noon. Inside the mountain's cavern, time seemed to fly by without them noticing it.

One of the boys yawned. She looked up from her backpack and saw that Silver was sat up, rubbing his eyes and stifling another yawn.

"Morning. Well, actually, it's afternoon."

"Really? It feels like it's three a.m."

"Doesn't it? But it's actually almost noon."

"When do you think Gary will wake up?" Ruby looked over at Gary. As if on cue, he let out a low snore, tossed and turned for a while and then settled back down. Arcanine opened an eye to look at Gary, saw that he was fine and asleep, then went back to sleeping. Ruby shrugged as a response.

"That kid will sleep through a hailstorm. Trust me. Are you hungry?"

"Starving. I brought like three bags of chips."

"Seriously? That's your _breakfast_?"

They continued to go on like this while they ate. They chatted and ate, sharing their food. Silver offered her chips, and Ruby offered him a sandwich she had made beforehand.

"That actually filled me up," Silver mused.

"Yeah. Getting to at least 3F might work up an appetite too… Are you sure Ash is in here?"

"He's definitely at the summit. I knew all along he was up there," Silver mumbled, his tone different. More serious. He let a small silence fall between them, then spoke, "Do you think it was a good idea? Not telling Saturn about Ash. I mean, if I had, he would have killed him, but I didn't, and now three of your friends are gone." The guilt he felt was written on his face. When she saw it, Ruby wanted to say everything possible to make him feel better. He had already apologized about all the messed up things revolving around him, but he couldn't seem to get the damage he caused out of his head. She had to make him realize that it wasn't all his fault.

"Either way, Silver, it would have ended badly. You just have to trust that your instinct on keeping Ash a secret was correct." She thought to herself that his instinct was correct. What would Saturn have done once he got a hold of Ash? Kill him, and then what? The thought made Ruby shudder.

"I guess you're right," Silver mumbled. "Everything about this just bugs me."

"It's not entirely your fault."

"If I hadn't done such shady jobs for random shady people, I wouldn't have gotten tangled with Saturn…"

"I know, but it happened, Silver. What matters right now is that you're fixing things." A soft smile spread across Silver's lips.

"Thanks, Ruby. I'm sorry I had to get you into this mess. I know I've apologized, but… You're just such a great friend. I can't seem to thank you or apologize enough."

"Hey," Ruby said with a small smile, "you're reuniting me and Gary with Ash. I'll never be able to thank _you _enough." The two smiled at each other.

"After this, can we still be friends?"

"Definitely," Ruby nodded. Suddenly, Silver leaned forward, wrapped his arms around Ruby's neck in a soft hug.

"I don't hate myself because of you, Ruby."

"Silver, I-"

"I know about you and Gary. I'm trying to let you go, but I don't want to lose you, either. You're the best thing that's ever come into my life and I definitely don't want to lose you."

"You won't lose me, Silver," Ruby muttered softly, hugging him back. "You'll never lose me."

**. . .**

"Gary wake the hell up, seriously, it's already past noon!" Ruby shouted, shaking Gary furiously. All of their pokemon were fed and in their pokeballs. Gary was the only one not yet ready to leave.

"Too… tired…"

"If we can get to that entrance, and then up to 3F, we might be able to see Ash by tomorrow. But that's if you _get off your lazy ass!_"

The snarl in her voice made Gary finally sit up and wipe the dreary feeling from his eyes. Ruby already had some food for him, which he ate in about five minutes. He changed, and everyone packed up their things and turned their attention to the lake and the entrance past it.

"We're going to have to have Lapras take us there," Gary said. Ruby and Silver nodded.

"Hopefully the pokemon from yesterday don't see us as a threat. We already pissed off what seems to be the boss around here," Ruby mumbled.

"We'll be fine," Silver reassured her, and himself. Gary called out Lapras, and the three of them climbed on her back and were before the entrance in no time. After hopping off Lapras, Ruby getting off slowly and making sure there was no way she could fall in the lake, Gary returned Lapras and they made their way into 2F…

Which was, gratefully, simply a winding trail that did lead to the entrance to 3F. The three of them almost cheered. Hopefully, there would be nothing in the way of getting to 3F.


	20. Climbing

3F was easy to get through. There were no pokemon in sight, and all they had to do was keep pushing forward and going up the trail. And 4F appeared to be just as easy. The path looked a bit more unstable, but the trio were in such a positive mood that they shrugged it off.

"We'll just be careful, and it'll be fine. Definitely," Ruby said with a nod as they made their way towards the trail. There were a few golbats roaming around, but most of them stayed out of their way. One golbat flew above their heads every once in a while, but they ignored it.

As they pushed through the trail, avoiding cracks and fallen boulders, the golbat got progressively closer and annoyed them even more. None of them wanted to do anything about it; a wrong move could have them running down the trail while a mob of angry golbats chased after them.

The golbat screeched loudly, flapping his wings close to Ruby. Ruby glared at him, patting down her hair. The golbat continued to pester her, flapping his wings madly and screeching in her ear.

"You are so bothersome," Ruby grumbled. She stomped forward but the golbat wouldn't stop annoying her. He was persistent to keep her from going up the trail. The golbat screeched once more and flew in front of her, preventing her from going forward. He flapped his wings wildly and Ruby took a few steps forward. Golbat flapped his wings more furiously, sending Ruby back until her back hit a wall.

A loud crack could be heard and everything seemed to go completely quiet. All that was heard was the crack's echo. Gary and Silver turned around, watching with wide eyes. Ruby darted her eyes towards them and opened her mouth to say something.

The wall behind her crumbled. Ruby yelped as she fell back.

"Ruby!" Gary and Silver shouted, running towards the shattering wall. They caught a glimpse of Ruby, sitting up and rubbing her head, before another loud crack was heard. They quickly stumbled back and more rocks crumbled from the wall, closing the hole.

"Crap!" Gary shouted, quickly getting to his knees. He started to move some rocks aside in an attempt to reopen the hole and get to Ruby. Silver crossed his arms, examined the heap of broken rocks, and shook his head.

"Dude, that's useless, it'll take hours to get to Ruby. And the wall might just break up some more," Silver said. Gary sighed, sitting down.

"You're right," Gary mumbled.

"Guys!" Ruby's voice rang out, silenced but loud enough for them to hear. "Guys! Can you hear me?"

"We can hear you!" Silver said.

"Great! Um… so what do we do?" Ruby shouted. She stood up and started dusting her pants off. When she stood up, she noticed that a little line of light fell onto the rock wall. She turned around and saw a small crevice in the wall. "Hey! Hey guys, there's a crack on the wall!"

"Ruby, that's what got us in this mess anyways," Gary shouted back. Ruby rolled her eyes, crawling towards the crevice. She hovered her hands over the crevice and felt a cold wind rush through her fingertips.

"It leads outside!"

"Your point?"

"Gary you are such a-"

"It means we can meet up outside," Silver cut in.

"Thank you," Ruby mumbled. "I'll just keep climbing upwards from here. Head for the summit, alright guys?"

"Alright!" they both responded.

"Take care!" Silver shouted

"Don't die!" Gary said after. Ruby mental facepalmed as she examined the crack. Maybe she could break through it. It was already cracked, meaning it was possible weak enough for her to break a hole big enough to go through. Ruby curled her hand into a fist, raised her fist, and punched the wall.

Her knuckles almost broke from how hard she'd punched the wall, but of course, it didn't come crashing down like she thought it would. She gave out an annoyed growl, sucking on her bruised knuckle. She sat down, leaned back a little, then started kicking at the crack in the wall. After the first few kicks, the wall started crumbling. Ruby kept kicking at the wall until the hole was big enough for her to go through. She slipped off her backpack, crawled through, then pulled her backpack through. She stood up and a cold wind blew. The weather was harsh from where she was at, but she wasn't at the summit just yet. Everything around her was green. If she kept climbing, she'd start to see a white blanket covering her surroundings. Ruby pulled out a sweater and a jacket from her backpack, pulled them on, and started walking forward. Hopefully she'd be able to meet up with the guys soon. Hopefully…

Meanwhile, with Gary and Silver, everything was calm. Until...

"Fuck!"

"What?!" Gary exclaimed, his eyes widened with surprise.

"Look," Silver mumbled lowly. Gary looked in the direction that Silver's eyes darted to. A few golbats surrounded the annoying one, who had a noticeable bump on his head. The golbat screeched a few times, and the all of the golbats turned to look at the duo. Their eyes seemed to light up in flames; they were clearly angered that their friend was hurt.

"Dammit," Gary hissed, stepping back a little. The golbats began to flap their wings. Both of them stayed eerily silent.

The golbats screeched in.

"Run!" Silver shouted, and the two ran up the trail, away from the angry group of golbats.

-…-

It was a lot of work, but she'd almost made it. Her hands and feet and the tip of her nose were numb with cold, and after she'd climbed up the mountain's rocky wall twice because the trail she was on ended abruptly, her hands were scratched up by the rocks. After climbing up the second time, she caved in and sent out Arcanine, who helped her up the trail and kept her company, as well as kept her hands warm.

Arcanine shivered.

"Are you cold?"

_"Yeah! Your hands are on my skin and their _cold_," _he snapped. _"And this weather isn't helping anything either."_

"Do you think we're close to the summit?"

_"Yes, we are. We just have to make our way up those rocks. They kind of look like stairs." _Ruby squinted her eyes, and through the falling snow she was able to see a set of stairs carved from the rock. They didn't look like they were naturally made like that. Ruby's breath caught in her throat.

"Hey…," Ruby mumbled, and when she didn't say anything afterwards, Arcanine stopped.

_"What is it?" _Arcanine asked worriedly.

"I'll walk from here," Ruby mumbled, crawling off of Arcanine's back.

_"You sure?" _

"Yeah," she muttered, taking out his pokeball. He was about to argue that he could stay warm out here, and probably keep her warm, but the look on her faced concerned him. He bit his tongue and let himself be sucked into his pokeball without a word.

Ruby clicked the pokeball so that it shrunk, stuffed it in in her pocket and looked up, staring at the stairs.

Ash was up there, just past those stairs. She was so sure of it. She curled her hands into fists, shoved back the sudden fear she felt, and trudged forward.

* * *

_-Hi guys c: I hope you had some happy holidays and a happy new year ;u; My vacation has been hectic but hours before 2013 started, I finished this story ;u; The last chapter will be uploaded soon... And it's kind of sad that I won't be able to keep this going, work on Silver and Ruby's relationship, Gary and Ash's relationship, etc... I was just talking about this, yes, it's quite sad ;u; But all good things come to an end~_

_I hope to upload it by Friday OuO Until then, I bid you ado~_


	21. I'm Free

"Ash! Ash, it's Ruby! Are you up there?" Ruby called out, stepping up the stairs. A strong, icey wind blew, almost throwing her backwards. Snowflakes crawled into her jacket, kissing her neck with their cold lips and leaving behind a small sting. The wind howled louder than usual, adding an intense feeling to the setting of the summit. She stepped off the last step, her boots burying themselves in the mushy snow.

The summit seemed to be completely empty. It was lonely and cold, the snow covering every inch of it. A few jagged rocks peeked out, covered in a clear film of ice. Ruby let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in, a white puff hovering in front of her face.

"Ash!" she shouted again, and heard her voice echo. "…Ash?" she said softer, her voice shaky.

"Ruby!" a voice called out. Her eyes widened. It was deeper, different, but she knew it was Ash's voice.

"Ash?" she called out, stepping forward.

Ash closed his eyes tight, biting the inside of his lip as a pain shot through his back. The man dug his knee into his back harder, causing Ash to let out a small groan. He struggled a bit more, but his hands were tied back, his belt where his pokeballs were thrown aside, too far for him to reach. Pikachu was trapped in a small, clear cage where he could barely move. Pikachu screamed out, but the noise didn't come out. His cheeks sparked with electricity, but the cage was immune to that.

"Call out to her again," the man hissed, digging his knee in further. "Call out to her, and tell her to come here."

He knew what he had to do, and hopefully he'd be the only one hurt.

"Ruby!" He took in a deep breath. A low howl could be heard; the wind was picking up. "Ruby, run!"

"Wh-what?"

"Run!" Ash boomed, and the man threw him down against the snow.

"You little bastard," he hissed, then ran forward.

Ruby's eyes widened. Run? What was wrong? Why was Ash telling her to run away? She couldn't see anyone, and as she took a few steps back, a figure came into view.

Saturn.

She almost screamed, but she held her fear back and ran off, towards the stairs, no, towards the cave entrance. Her muscles were tensed up, but she was running as fast as she could. She wanted to help Ash, but she didn't know how, so she simply ran in hopes to find Gary and Silver.

Something cold gripped her neck, cold and metallic. It wrapped around her neck and she heard a small beep.

Fire seemed to course throw her veins. It fried her skin and shook her whole body. The feeling seemed vaguely familiar.

Her body numbed and she fell to the ground, her senses out of wack. When she came to and the fear set in again, she struggled to her feet, but Saturn was pinning her down, her hands already tied together.

"Get up," he growled, grabbing the back of her jacket and pulling her to her feet. She winced; her body was in pain from what it just went through. She didn't want to, but a yelp escaped her. Saturn laughed.

"Like it? It's sort of what your friend, Silver, had. One push of a button, and electricity courses through your body. One wrong move and you'll go through that again."

Her heart was pounding furiously and she was holding her breath. She felt that if she breathed, electricity would run across her body again. A shiver ran across her back.

Ruby breathed slowly through her nose. Saturn tugged her jacket.

"The two of you are quite a pain, you and Silver. I didn't realize he ran to you without my knowing until I realized that he was up in that mountain for way too long. I sent a few shocks his way, but no reaction. No angry phone call my way. So I called him. No reply. I was pissed by then, so I went to go check on him. That mountain was completely empty, and I found his cuff lying around. The rage I was in by then was unexplainable. If I was as angry as I was then right now, I don't think you'd be alive, pretty girl." His nails dug into Ruby's wrist. "But I still had a lead on him. I still knew where he was. So I followed your guys' trail for a while until I got the message that you guys were heading for the summit. In the end I beat you guys to it! I got to Ash, and I was about to kill that guy off but then you came in. But I guess keeping you as a trophy would be fun too." His voice had some sort of humorous tone to it, a cold humor that only he saw.

He had on a wicked smile. "I hear you're a freak as well-"

"Let her go!" a voice roared. Saturn and Ruby looked up and saw Gary standing in front of the cave's entrance. Silver appeared behind him a few seconds after, his eyes wide with fear, but his eyebrows furrowed with anger.

Gary took a step forward, his hands balled into fists. Saturn brought his hand up; let the two boys take a good look at the remote control. Silver's eyes widened with realization.

"Take another step forward and see what happens."

"Don't," Silver growled. Ruby wasn't sure whether he was talking to Saturn, or to Gary. Saturn saw it as a challenge. He gave Silver an evil grin and pressed down on the button.

Electricity escaped from the metal collar around Ruby's neck and made its way around Ruby's entire body. Through all of the pain, she warned herself not to scream, not to give Saturn that kind of satisfaction, not to scare Gary and Silver like that, but her body couldn't take it. She let out a scream, let her body go limp against the electricity. The pain stopped, her skin hot against the cold wind. She would have been on the ground if Saturn wasn't holding her up by the back of her jacket.

"Ruby!" Gary shouted, stepping forward. Saturn's eyes darted towards the remote control and he grinned, warning Gary, challenging him, threatening him. Gary bit his lip and stepped back.

"If only you would have obeyed," Saturn growled lowly, narrowing his eyes at Silver. "If you would have just done as told and not gotten yourself involved with this girl, she wouldn't be in pain right now. You put her into this, Silver, I just want you to know that."

"Let her go, Saturn," Silver said, his voice low and wavering. He was about ready to explode, but he wouldn't, for Ruby's sake. He had to take control of this situation, somehow.

"No, Silver, I'm _done _giving you chances," Saturn growled. It was evident he was fuming with anger. The cold around him seemed to dissipate because of his hot fury; a vein on his neck and forehead popped out. He wasn't wearing a jacket; his skin looked ghostly. Silver realized he had never been more afraid of Saturn than he was then, even without the cuff on his wrist. Now that string was wrapped around Ruby's neck.

Something inside Saturn seemed to snap. He threw Ruby forward, and it took every muscle in Gary's body not to rush forward. Ruby fell to the ground, the snow burning her skin more. She groaned in pain, started to pick herself up, but Saturn pushed her back down with his muddy boot.

"I'm sick and tired of you ignorant teens," he shouted, his voice booming around the screaming wind. From his pocket he drew out a gun.

"No!" Gary and Silver shouted.

Saturn pointed the sleek, black gun at Ruby, and he almost pulled the trigger.

But a thick, purple energy surrounded him. His body tensed and he struggled to move, but his body remained frozen. Ruby took her eyes off of the gun and stared at Saturn's frozen body. She turned her head to look at Gary and Silver, her body shaking and trembling. Gary was also frozen in place, staring back at her. Silver was glaring at Saturn, his arm outstretched, his hand covered in purple energy as well.

Silver kept his steady glare on Saturn. Inside, he was freaking out with surprise, relief, and power.

"You're not killing anyone anymore," Silver shouted, stepping forward. From the corner of his eye, he saw something flicker. He held back a grin.

He had no idea what to say to end all of this, so he simply said, "Go to hell," and with a swipe of his hand, he was gone.

He could hardly believe it. He was finally gone, out of his hair, out of his life.

After what seemed like an hour passed by, the two boys finally recovered from their stunned status and rushed towards Ruby. Gary helped her sit up and brought out Arcanine. Arcanine curled up around her; he desperately wanted to know what happened but he stayed silent and helped keep Ruby warm. Her skin was pinker than usual, and she was shivering.

"Ruby," Gary whispered, gently grabbing her face in his hands. Both of their eyes swelled up with tears. Gary ran his thumb across Ruby's cheek and she closed her eyes. "Ruby, oh my God, I-" He didn't know what else to say, so he pressed his lips against hers, and she pressed back, but she quickly pulled away.

"Gary, Ash-"

"What?"

"Ash, he's- he's back there," Ruby stumbled over her words, shivering and trying to get to her feet.

"Hey, you need to rest," Gary said, picking her up and placing her on Growlithe's back.

"But Ash-"

"I'm fine," a voice spoke up. Silver and Ash came into view, Ash hugging onto Pikachu. Gary's eyes widened.

Ash didn't look all that different. He looked older, but he didn't look ancient and worn out. He looked like he'd grown stronger mind wise. Pikachu looked the same as well, but it was evident that he leveled up plenty while they were here.

"Ash," Gary whispered and found himself frozen in place. Ruby, on the other hand, was running towards him, ignoring her worn out body.

"Ash, oh my god, I can't believe- I'm so- I-"

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, gripping her shoulders. She winced a little.

"I'm fine. Are _you _okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just glad that lunatic's gone… Hey, you look completely different. Are you wearing contacts?"

"I-It's a really long story. Let's just get out of this mountain," Ruby said. She paused, and worry set into her stomach. What if Ash didn't want to come down with them? What if he wanted to stay up there longer because his feelings were still unresolved towards Gary? "Will you come down with us?" Ruby asked, her voice softer and hesitant.

Ash's eyes immediately went to Gary. A rush of guilt spread throughout Gary's body.

"Ash, I'm- I'm sorry," Gary began, walking towards him. "I don't even remember what we were fighting about, all I know is that I'm sorry. When you left, well, I was such a wreck. I thought you were dead." He silenced, looking away, at the grey clouds that showered them in snow. "I kind of… got really depressed. Suicidal, even, because I believed I killed my best friend. But then Ruby and Silver showed up and they lead me to you, and I… I'm so sorry," his voice croaked at the last bit. Suddenly, arms wrapped around him, giving him a strong hug.

"It's alright, Gary," Ash said, hugging him tight. "I'm sorry, too."

Ruby smiled wide at the sight of them reunited, hugging and happy. Silver and Arcanine glanced at each other, then smiled as well.

"Let's get out of here," Ash finally said, turning around to look for his backpack.

"Hey," Ruby spoke up, looking at Silver. "Thanks for saving me. How did you do that?"

"Well, the whole freezing Saturn in place, I could do that from the start. It's just that I was kind of drained for a while there that I wasn't sure if I could do it. I tried it anyways, and it worked, thank Arceus. And the making-him-disappear part, well, that would be Mesprit's doing."

Mesprit flew up to them from behind Silver, giving them a big grin. She set herself on Silver's shoulder.

_"I sent him with Diagla and Palkia. I'm sure he'll learn his lesson,"_ Mesprit said, nodding at them.

"Thank you guys so much. You guys saved my life!"

"I'm just glad it's over," Silver sighed. He turned around, looking at the view under them. "I'm finally free."

* * *

_-Ahhh it's over ;u; For a really long time I had no idea how to end this story, but I think I ended it in a good manner, don't you think? Meh._

_Anyways, thank you guys so much for reading, thanks for all the views, thanks for adding it to your favorites and alerts and thank you for the reviews c: Your opinions and your support are what kept me going n_n So thank you guys! I'm planning on writing a PMD fic, actually I'm planning on writing a lot of pokemon fics, and a few others, so if you'd like, add me to your author alerts c: _

_This story is done! It's over! I'm sort of sad, but hey! All good things come to an end c:_

_Thank you for reading! n_n_


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